Kitsune of Las Noches
by brown phantom
Summary: Adopted and revised story. Some ninja just get one sensei, and if they're lucky they can get two. Naruto is given ten, a group called the Espada. Armed with training and skills beyond Konoha's understanding, he will take the world by storm, but whose side is he really on?
1. 1 A Hollow Beginning

A/N: To all my readers, both old and new, here's a new story from me, and yet not from me at the same time. This story is my first attempt to work on an adopted story, and this one is probably going to be a challenge. This was originally owned by jmac615, then my good friend Rocker1600 took it up once jmac615 lost his zeal for it. Now Rocker1600 has lost his own drive, and he has entrusted me to be the one that can make this story complete. Since this is adopted, I'm going to try and make this a story both previous writers can still enjoy, but as the current owner I'm going to make this story my own too in my own way. But above all else, I hope I can make it a story my audience likes too, and for those that followed this story from its previous authors, I hope you can support it and me like you did with jmac615 and Rocker1600.

This chapter was originally written by jmac615, and revised by myself.

**Chapter 1- A Hollow Beginning**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach.

[Aizen's Throne Room, Las Noches, Hueco Mundo]

In a barren desert stretching as far as the eye could see in virtually every direction except up, there was one lone feature that looked very out of place. It was a majestic palace with protective walls around it. It was clearly fit for a king, but the one who sat on the throne was a ruler most would bow to out of fear more than true loyalty.

That ruler was a man named Sosuke Aizen, once known as one of the most powerful shinigami of the realms. He was a man who had great plans for himself, ones that did not involve being a mere subordinate within the system of the Soul Society, even if he was a high-ranking subordinate. Hence why he was now dwelling in the realm where lost souls go, those that the shinigami tend to overlook in their line of work.

At the moment Aizen was sitting on his throne watching a projection of another world, and what he witnessed intrigued him. He was looking into a town, one where like the Seireitei there seemed to be a system and culture built upon warfare claiming it existed for the good of those that were afraid to defend themselves. Aizen doubted the sincerity of that claim but he was skeptical by nature.

In this town, a large mob of ordinary people was currently chasing a small blonde child, one that couldn't be older than six years old, yet somehow was able to outrun them all. Either the child had good legs or the adults were toying with him. It sure didn't sound like the latter was the case, as the people in the mob kept shouting the word 'demon' at the boy among other nasty slurs.

'What is it about this boy they find so interesting?' Aizen asked himself, feeling confused. Aizen was definitely not what most people would call morally proper, but he wasn't so immoral as to believe a group of adults chasing down a child with weapons in hand was something to overlook. If the adults had a reason, he wanted to know what that reason was.

He focused more on the boy, and at mere glancing there was absolutely nothing threatening about him. He looked about as dangerous as the lieutenant of Squad Eleven of Soul Society. But there was one thing Aizen could perceive, an immense amount of spiritual pressure. Far beyond what he knew to be normal. In addition to that spiritual pressure emanating from the boy, Aizen sensed something even stronger sealed away underneath like, like pressure within pressure so to speak.

"That's something I've never seen before. Kurotsuchi would love to get his pasty hands on this child." Aizen thought to himself, then got a wicked grin. "Maybe I should beat him to it." He then rose from his throne. "Gin! Tousen!"

Two men appeared in the room, one a normal-looking man with a snake-like expression and the other wearing a viser over his eyes.

"What is it, Aizen-sama?" Gin asked, grinning his unnerving grin as usual.

"This boy here, I can sense a lot of power within him yet I can't identify it. I want you to bring him here, I want to see if he can be trained by the Espada." Aizen said as he looked back at the image and saw that the boy had tripped and was about to be beaten by the mob. "Better get him right now."

"As you wish, Aizen-sama." Tosen said as he and Gin turned and left.

Aizen now had a wide smile on his face.

[Somewhere in Konohagakure]

Naruto was on the ground trying to back away from the mob. The people in the mob were wielding only knives and sticks but, unfortunately for Naruto, that was all the mob needed.

"Now we will vanquish this demon from our land." The leader of the mob proudly declared as the rest of the mob cheered in approval.

"I'm not a demon! Why are you doing this?" Naruto asked as the mob closed in on him.

"Now we get our revenge." The leader said, ignoring the boy's words as he brought his knife down at the boy's body. Naruto closed his eyes as he prepared to meet his end, but fortunately for him and the shinobi world, it never came.

"Shoot to kill, Shinso!" An unfamiliar voice said.

Naruto opened his eyes and saw that a very long sword had pierced the leader in the chest, and unless he was mistaken it had pierced another person too. He turned to see its wielder, it was a man with white hair, squinty eyes, and a wide smile. The sword he sported that had saved Naruo's life, was a ridiculously impractical length, but it allowed him to reach the members of the mob from a safe distance. The white-haired man stood next to a dark-skinned man with purple hair and some sort of silver visor on his eyes. Naruto could still see that the man's eyes had no pupils, however, giving the impression that he was blind or somehow connected to the Hyuuga clan. Given his complexion and the fact Naruto didn't know what the Hyuuga clan was, he was assuming the former.

"Wha-what the...?" Naruto stuttered as the two men walked closer to him.

"My, my that was a close one." The white-haired man said.

"Who are you and why did you save the demon?" One of the people in the mob asked as the white-haired man looked at him in confusion. The majority of the mob had backed away now, but none of it had left yet.

"Huh, demon? You mean this kid here on the pavement crying his eyes out? If so, your eyes are even worse than Tosen's and he's blind." The white-haired man said as the dark-skinned man, Tosen, just looked towards him with a scowl.

"If you're here to help the demon, then you'll die with him." Another member of the mob said as they charged at Naruto and the two strangers.

The white-haired man quickly grabbed Naruto and leapt back while Tosen jumped into the air.

"Suzumushi Nishiki: Benihiko." Tosen said as he made a counterclockwise circle around him with his sword. When he had finished, multiple blades came out of nowhere along the path then rained down on the mob. The entire mob was skewered in an instant, with only a few members dying instantly and others dying slowly. A couple would manage to survive if they got medical attention that night, but they would forever bear scars.

Naruto was amazed by such a technique and wished to learn a similar way to defend himself.

"What do you want with me?" Naruto nervously asked as the white-haired man gently put him down.

"Let's start with introductions first. I am Gin Ichimaru, and this is Kaname Tousen. We came from a place called Hueco Mundo and we're here to take you back with us to be trained." Gin replied as Naruto just looked at him, shocked at the news.

"Train me! Why?" Naruto asked, wondering why anyone would want to train him. Usually when people thought of 'training' and 'Naruto' in the same sentence it resulted in him being desired for target practice.

"Because, our master Aizen believes that you can be incredibly strong, stronger than the strongest person you'll ever know, and now that we're closer, I can sense that you do indeed have much strength hidden deep within you, begging to be cultivated and nourished." Tosen said. He had sensed Naruto's strength the moment he laid eyes on him, so to speak.

"If I say yes, will I be leaving forever?" Naruto asked. While he may have disliked like the villagers Naruto still had friends in the village.

Gin smiled, certain that the mere fact the boy asked that meant he had all but decided and just wanted confirmation his choice was the right one. "It all depends on what Aizen-sama has planned. Will you come with us, please?" He asked while extending his hand, which after only a moment's hesitation Naruto took.

Before they could depart, however, they were stopped by the arrival of the Third Hokage and a few Anbu Black Ops members.

"Hold it right there. Get away from Naruto this instant." The hokage commanded as his anbu prepared to attack the two strangers while some tried to save the still surviving members of the mob.

"I'm afraid we can't do that. We are taking Naruto to a place to be trained so he can stand up to the nutjobs, like these fools, in your village. And before you think that we're kidnapping him, you should know that he chose to come with us on his own accord." Gin said as the hokage looked at him in shock.

"What? Naruto is this true?" The hokage asked, and to his surprise Naruto just nodded.

"Don't worry, Naruto will return. Just not for a while," Gin said with a smile.

Sarutobi did not look placated. "Well regardless, it does not matter if Naruto approves this or not. He is but a child that does not know what is best for him and thus cannot make such a decision. I demand you release him and cooperate while we take you into custody."

"You claim you on the other hand know what is best for this child compared to him or us?" Tousen challenged. "How can you claim that if your security is so lax you do not even show up to this injustice until it's the mob who is attacked instead of the innocent child?"

"Very suspicious." Gin taunted.

"You have a lot of nerve accusing me of what I think you are." Sarutobi replied.

"Only if we're wrong." Gin stated. "I just find it strange that a man who does not even live in this country let alone this village can provide better security to this child then you yourself can. While we promise Naruto will return, I suggest you use these upcoming years to give him a reason to want to stay. Because we will know how this village reacts to his arrival, and we will react according."

Before any shinobi could act, the two Shinigami then turned around and opened a Garganta and walked through it, with Naruto in tow, before the portal slammed shut.

The shinobi looked at it dumbfounded, trying to make sense of what they just witnessed.

"Everyone, we are to tell no one of what just happened." Sarutobi ordered.

"Hokage-sama, why did you not fight them?" One of the Anbu asked.

"Because I've had enough experience in debates to know that here the argument was already over and not in my favor." The old man answered. "Besides, just one man was willing and able to slaughter complete strangers to save that child and he was blind. Do you think they would have done any different if I made any move to counter them?"

"But what if they don't bring the boy back?" The Anbu asked.

Sarutobi sighed. "Then there's nothing we can do and life will go on. All we can do is pray Naruto will be safe and come back to us, but as our ally rather than enemy."

'Be safe, Naruto.' Sarutobi added to himself as he and his anbu disappeared, wondering what would happen when Naruto came back. Would he still love Konoha? Or would Konoha give him reason to hate instead?

[Aizen's Throne Room, Las Noches, Hueco Mundo]

Naruto looked in awe at the massive castle/fortress he was now inside . Gin and Tosen led him into a huge room, the throne room from what Naruto could tell, where a man was seated on a throne on the opposite side of the room. The man had a white outfit on and had brown slicked-back hair.

"Welcome, Naruto. I am Sosuke Aizen, the one who sent Gin and Tosen to retrieve you." Aizen said as Gin and Tosen brought Naruto closer, and once the boy was close he decided to get up off his throne and walk to meet his newest acquisition.

Naruto bowed respectfully to the man, feeling it was the only polite thing to do. "Are you going to be the one training me?"

Aizen smiled gently at him. "No, I will have you trained by the Espada, the ten best warriors of my army. And if things work out, maybe other members will provide some lessons too."

Naruto was surprised to hear that he was going to have at least ten different teachers.

The opening of a huge door startled the young blonde, from which ten figures stepped out. The first guy was big and muscular with a tan and a ponytail. Another guy was wearing a helmet covering his entire head with a popped collar covering the rest of his head. There was man with pink hair, glasses, and a thin body, who looked like he had a thousand thoughts at once. The only dark-skinned member was bald with some spikes on his head and a forlorn expression. The guy next to him had a jaw fragment attached on the right side of his face as well as blue hair. There was another gangly guy whose outfit made him look like a giant spoon with a huge misshapen scythe behind him. The palest member had green eyes, black hair, and teal-colored marks that looked like tears. The only woman in the group had blonde hair, blue eyes, and had her face covered but exposed a good portion of her torso. There was an old man who had one eye closed and was wearing some sort of crown. The final member had a lazy look in his eyes and brown hair.

"Is that them? The ten guys you called Ess... " Naruto asked as he looked back at Aizen, unable to pronounce the foreign word.

"Yes, that is them, but introductions and training can wait until tomorrow. Why don't you go with Gin to your new room?" Aizen said. Naruto nodded in reply and began walking with Gin before he suddenly stopped.

"Hey, um, I have a quick question. Will I be able to go home when my training is done?" Naruto asked while Aizen still smiled at him.

"Yes, you are free to go when your training in Las Noches is done. What you do then when you get there, well, that's up to you." Aizen said as Naruto smiled and left.

"Are you really going to let him leave?" Tosen asked as Aizen turned to look at him.

"Yes, of course."

"Pardon me Aizen-sama, but if that is your plan, then why are you training him in the first place?"

Aizen silently chuckled. "It's called long term planning Tousen. You see, after we've taken the Soul Society and the ryoka world, we will take over his world too, but with him as the main weapon." Aizen said to his subordinate as he sprouted a wide smile.

"What does his world have that you want?" Tousen asked, not seeing the benefit of conquering a third world.

"Something that if in fact real, will make my zanpakuto look like a toy." Aizen answered, then went back to his throne to signify that was the end of the discussion.

If only he knew what would happen in the future.

_7 Years Later..._

Naruto sat atop a tower in Hueco Mundo staring out at the massive desert touching every horizon he could see. No longer did he wear a plain civilian outfit, now he sported a white jacket over a black shirt, black pants, and sandals. In a way he could pass for an inverted color scheme Shinigami, the image complete with his own zanpakuto at his hip, which was held in a black hilt with red wrappings around it and a red, round, spiral pattern tsuba looking like the crest of the Uzumaki clan.

"Ready or not Konoha, here come Naruto Uzumaki!" The boy said to himself, as if imagining Konoha not the desert was there to hear him.

Next Time – Departure and Return


	2. 2 Departure and Return

**Chapter 2- Departure and Return**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto/Bleach.

[Las Noches, Hueco Mundo]

Having enough of the scenery, Naruto entered the center of Las Noches and decided to head to his room one last time. There was no telling when he'd be back and frankly it was what he thought of as his home. Not that old apartment he couldn't even picture in his head anymore. When he got there he saw some clothes he had never seen before on his bed, with a note attached to the top by a piece of scotch tape.

_Dear Naruto,_

_I thought you might like some new clothes considering you're leaving soon. This should be appropriate for your big return to make an impression while be suitable for your new vocation. Enjoy._

_Signed, _

_Aizen_

Naruto smiled at the note and put on the clothes. There was a shirt similar to Grimmjow's, but it had short sleeves instead of the long sleeves that the Sixth Espada rolled up and the inside was lined with mesh armor sewn in, buffered by another thin layer so he didn't feel the links directly against his skin. The pants were white and baggy with black trim and had the same arrangement of mesh armor inside. His sandals were Espada edition sandals, and he had white forearm gauntlets on his arms that had skulls in the middle of the forearm itself. A pair of shoulder armor pads with a similar design completed the ensemble.

Once dressed, Naruto took a look at himself in the mirror. "A bit much for a new genin, but perfect for someone to not underestimate."

Done admiring himself, Naruto walked to Aizen's throne room expecting to see the ruler of Las Noches, but found that the Shinigami Captain was not at his throne. "Am I too early?" He asked both himself and anyone that might be in the room he hadn't sensed.

He got no answer.

Rather than going out and looking for him, Naruto decided to wait for him. He was in no hurry to get back to the world this place had taken him from, and he wanted to at least talk one last time with the Espada while he had the chance.

Speaking of the Espada, a blue-haired one named Grimmjow had just walked into the throne room in a casual stroll.

"How are you, Grimmjow-sama?" Naruto asked as one of his many teachers looked at him with his usual grin.

"Bored as hell. What are you doing?" Grimmjow asked as he took a seat next to Naruto.

"Just waiting for Aizen-sama. I need to discuss my departure with him." Naruto said as Grimmjow looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Is it time already?" Grimmjow asked, to which Naruto nodded in reply.

"Yeah, it's been a while since I began my training. If my math is correct, it should be seven years since then in my world. I'm nervous, but excited at the same time." Naruto said as he sported his trademark grin.

"I like that look in your eye." Grimmjow said with a smile. Naruto gave a small chuckle in response.

"I'm just pumped is all. There are some people I've been dying to see."

"Oh? You mean like a girl?" Grimmjow asked in a mocking tone and a sleazy expression on his face.

Naruto, not surprisingly, got steamed at him. "Shut up Grimmjow-sama!" This only made the Espada laugh, as if to say 'I knew it'.

"I thought I heard some sort of commotion." Another person said. Naruto immediately recognized that voice thanks to its lazy tone.

"So you actually decided to wake up, Starrk-sama." Naruto said as the laziest Espada just looked at him with remnants of sleep still present in his eyes. The whiskered blonde was convinced that before he became a Hollow Starkk was a member of the Nara clan.

"I had no choice since Lilynette kept waking me up while you two started making noise over here." Starrk said as he cleaned his ears.

"Well that's great way to say farewell, Starrk." Grimmjow said.

Starrk was confused by Grimmjow's comment, but he finally understood after a minute or so. "So today's the day, huh?"

"Yep, time for me to head back and cause a little trouble. Though I still have to consult Aizen-sama, so I'm waiting for him to return." Naruto said. Starrk nodded in reply before he sat next to Naruto.

"Then wait no longer." A familiar voice said.

Naruto, Grimmjow, and Starrk turned around to see that Aizen had returned. Accompanying Aizen were the remaining Espada, their uniquely assigned subordinates known as Fracciones, and Naruto's own two Fracciones, all who came to see the young boy off.

While not a Hollow in any sense of the word, let alone an Espada, Aizen decided to give his young pupil his own set of subordinates who were both his bodyguards and his best friends. He knew Naruto would need both once the hidden village showed just how thrilled it was to have him back.

These two non-Espada Arrancars were called Tiraran and Jango. Tiraran looked like a teenage girl, about as old as Naruto assumed Ayame Ichiraku was now, who had long green hair, quartz pink eyes, and a face that looked surprising young compared to her rather mature figure. Covering that mature figure was just a crimson tank top with orange rim on the shoulders and bottom, a black skirt with white vertical stripes, and some knee high boots. Like all Arrancars she had a piece of a Hollow mask attached to her head, in her case it was in the form of a headband. Jango looked like a teenage boy, younger than Tiraran but older than Naruto himself. He had brown medium-length hair, black eyes, and a face that could be serious as hell one moment or completely unserious the next. His outfit was a simple dark green shirt with long sleeves, beige pants, and grey boots. His Hollow mask fragment was larger than Tiraran's, covering the majority of his face in fact. The only part exposed was his mouth, and if someone from Konoha saw it they'd say his mask was the exact opposite of Kakashi's. Both of them had swords equipped, but Tiraran's was small like a dagger with a pink hilt and a black-colored blade, kept strapped to her thigh while Jango's was a normal-sized katana with a black hilt and a sickly pale-colored blade kept at waist.

All Arrancars in Las Noches had numbers assigned to them, telling others their strength compared to others, with the Espada being the ones who bore the numbers 1 through 10. The lower your number, the stronger you were, in theory at least but of course there were ways to circumvent this if one was smart enough. Tiraran and Jango were the 28th and 29th Numeros-class Arrancars, respectively. Tiraran's number was stamped on her thigh, covered up by her dagger to keep it a surprise, and Jango's number was stamped on the back of his right shoulder, usually covered by his shirt anyway.

"Oh so you were gathering the rest of the guys to see me off?" Naruto said while smiling at Aizen and the Arrancar.

"Yes, I thought that everyone that worked with you should be here to wish you luck."

Grimmjow arched an eyebrow. "So you gave up on looking for me and Starkk before deciding to do it?"

"Call it taking a chance on the possibility you two were already with him." Aizen said, showing his usual smile then returning his focus to the young boy. "Naruto Uzumaki, I have given you everything Konohagakure would have deprived you of and then some. You have done well to meet my expectations, and I completely sure that the people that fight you in the future should pray for luck if they want to survive."

"Got that right." Naruto exclaimed, making a few Espada and Fraccione smile with him.

Aizen just nodded for a moment, then continued. "When you go back, you will draw attention to yourself no matter what. Too much attention given your future vocation, and little of it being the positive kind right away. You know what to do right?"

Naruto nodded, having already been warned to not expect the warmest of welcomes and what to do in any given approach Konoha attempted.

"Then make us proud and get stronger Naruto. Other than that, all that's left to say is good-bye." Aizen said then extended his hand to Naruto, who took it.

"For now at least." Naruto added.

"Good luck, gaki." Nnoitra said while grinning.

"Are we coming with you, Naruto-sama?" Tiraran asked while giving a hopeful yet sad look at him.

"No, you should remain here in Hueco Mundo for now. I will, however, call when I need your assistance." Naruto said as the two Arrancar bowed.

"If that's what you wish, Naruto-sama." Jango said, giving a weak smile.

"It won't be long, I just worry that showing up with new people that seem too strong it will send the wrong message." Naruto reassured. Tiraran and Jango smiled, glad to see he wasn't doubting them.

Not wanting to make the goodbye longer than it had to be, Naruto opened up a Garganta and stepped through it. He took one last glance back at his teachers before it closed completely.

'Take care of yourselves, and thanks for everything.' Naruto thought to himself as the Espada disappeared from sight.

[Main Gate, Konohagakure]

Izumo and Kotetsu were at the entrance to Konoha, bored as usual. They had been there the whole morning, taking check of everyone that had passed in and out of Konoha. And there weren't that many to begin with, this was a ninja village after all, people didn't just come and go all the time every day. Though they hoped it was nothing bad, Izumo and Kotetsu wished that something interesting would happen. They got their wish when a black portal opened up in the air above them.

"W-what in the name of Kami is that?" Izumo asked as he and Kotetsu just looked at the portal with a little scared look.

"I'm not sure, but it doesn't look friendly." Kotetsu said, about to go get back up before he was stopped by Izumo grabbing his arm.

"Wait, there's someone inside." Izumo said while pointing at a figure that appeared within the center of the portal.

"No way. That's…" Kotetsu said as he stared at the person inside the portal.

The person he saw inside of the portal was none other than Naruto, who then stepped out of the portal and floated gently to the ground. Naruto walked to the gate and nodded to the two guards as they stared wide-eyed at him.

"Yo." Naruto said casually as he walked into the village towards the Hokage Tower.

Izumo and Kotetsu just stared with open mouths and then looked back at each other.

"Have we been drinking today?" Izumo asked.

"Not a drop." Kotetsu answered.

"Then clearly we need to."

"I'm not going to argue with that."

[Hokage's Office, The Academy]

_A Few Minutes Later..._

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was dealing with the one threat that no kage of any village had been able to get rid of… paperwork. The stack in front of him was huge in height as the old man tried to make it smaller with every sheet signed. The sad part was that the stack was going to be at the same level tomorrow, if it didn't get bigger. Even sadder was sometimes he wasn't even sure where all of it came from, it was like paper knew how to reproduce.

As he was going through some more documents, someone knocked on the door. "Come in."

"Long time no see old man." A somewhat familiar voice said, one that made the hokage look up with wide eyes.

Standing in the door way was Naruto, smiling at one of the few people that treated him with kindness. The Sandaime had tried to have Naruto be seen as a hero, as per the Yondaime's instructions, but it fell on mostly deaf ears. Apparently the public felt the Yondaime was all the hero they needed so there was no more admiration left to give to Naruto. The few people who did listen tried to at least adopt the poor kid, but the civilian council, in their arrogance and complete hatred of the boy, shot them all down, often threatening any who asked. The shinobi council couldn't get involved mainly because no one from the clans tried to adopt the boy, claiming it would have led to a civil war between them if one clan could claim authority over the jinchuuriki.

When the Hokage told the councils that Gin and Tosen had taken Naruto, the civilian council was happy to be rid of the so-called "demon child". The shinobi council, however, was not so cheerful. When the Sandaime assured them, in secret, that Naruto would return one day they got a little bit happy. Unlike the civilian council, the members of the shinobi council did not hold any real hatred towards Naruto as they knew the Kyubi's attack on Konoha was not Naruto's fault. But they didn't like him enough to defend him more than they had to, often claiming they had enough of their own problems to deal with.

Now, after seven years, Naruto has returned, and Sarutobi could easily sense a definitive change in the boy, though he couldn't identify what that change was beyond natural growth.

"Welcome home, Naruto." The Sandaime said as he got up and gave the blonde a big hug.

"Thanks old man, though I doubt I'll get the same warm welcome from most people. How've you been? Still dealing with paperwork?" Naruto said.

The Sandaime frowned in response to that comment as he was well aware that the child was mocking him and his torment. "Unfortunately yes, I am unable to escape this torture until I find a successor and retire again. Hopefully this time it will last." He said, going back to his desk and motioning Naruto to sit. However, the boy waved it off.

"I'm not here to talk long, I just wanted to say hi and get back to the academy. Though they can't really teach me anything there, I figured this way I can establish a credible reason for becoming a ninja that no one can argue against." Naruto said, to which the Sandaime nodded.

"Hold on a sec, I almost forgot." Sarutobi said, snapping his fingers as the thought hit him. He opened a drawer. "This will let you go through the graduation process without having to going through all the teachings over again so you can graduate with people your own age." He explained, having taken out a piece of paper and writing down a note that he then gave to Naruto.

"Thanks, old man." Naruto said before taking the note and waving goodbye to the man who was like a grandfather to him before leaving.

[Academy Classroom]

"Don't forget that the graduation exam is tomorrow, so everyone study hard and sharpen your skills tonight." Iruka announced to the class.

Everyone was excited about finally graduating, having worked hard, for the most part, to become ninja. Some of the students had decided to become ninja to gain power, some were there to achieve glory, and some were just there only because their parents forced them to go. And tomorrow they'd get the chance to finally start the dangerous journey to the goal they sought.

The opening of the door stopped the chattering amongst the students. The figure that stepped in made the guys look shocked and the girls get blushes on their faces and few with nosebleeds. The one thing everyone had in common was no one knew who he was.

"Excuse me, you are?" Iruka asked politely, not recognizing the boy at all.

Naruto gave a mock salute to the scarred teacher. "This should tell you everything you need to know." He then gave him the note from the Hokage.

Iruka took it and looked it over. 'This is strange, but no doubt genuine. This kid is supposed to be judged solely on the standard graduation exam? Well, I better just roll with it and wait to ask Hokage-sama himself about it.' Finished, he nodded at Naruto in understanding and motioned for him to take a seat.

A certain Uchiha was looking at Naruto with a frown; the fact that this new guy walked in here like he owned the place felt like an attack on the Uchiha's pride. Only HE was allowed to walk around like he owned the place.

"Class, our new student, or returning student as I'm told, is Naruto Uzumaki. He has been away for some time getting select training but now he's back and will be participating in the graduation exam with the rest of you." Iruka said. Some of the students were shocked by this revelation while others, including a certain pink-haired girl, were very upset.

"Iruka-sensei, that's not fair! Why does that blonde baka get to take the exam when he hasn't even been here? If anything he should go back to kindergarten!" Sakura screeched. Because she had done this in close proximity to Naruto, almost as if it were intended that way, he had to clean his ears to make sure that the pink banshee didn't deafen him.

"Because Naruto has been training for the past seven years in another place. His training makes him more than qualified to take the exam. Or are you going to call Hokage-sama's judgment into question?" Iruka said as Sakura gave one last angry look at Naruto before she went back to her seat.

'Naruto-kun, I knew it was you,' Hinata thought as she now recognized him, her being the only one in the room that remembered him well enough to. Even Iruka had forgotten so much about the boy that he wasn't even aware he was the jinchuuriki.

Naruto sensed the white-eyed girl looking at him, and turned to look back at her. Hinata immediately tuned her head with an "eep" sound, embarrassed at having been spotted in return. Naruto called no further attention to this and simply sat down.

[Hours later]

After a long day for Naruto the bell rung dismissing the students to return home. 'Now I need to figure out where I go.' He thought to himself, vacating the classroom. But before he could think of an answer, he was stopped when he felt someone's killer intent directed at him. It was barely worth his acknowledgment, having been exposed to inhuman amounts of spiritual pressure for seven years, but he wondered who would bother attempting to stare him down like this.

So he turned around, only to see Sasuke Uchiha, giving him an ugly look.

"What do you want?" Naruto politely asked him, but included a hint of annoyance in his tone. He was not in the mood for a fight with someone right now, as it would have been a waste of his time.

"I just want you to remember your place. I'm the top student in my class, so don't you think that I'll let you pass this exam, you dead last." Sasuke said in an incredibly threatening tone, like he was practically ordering Naruto to disappear again.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You say that like you believe whether or not I pass is actually your choice."

"Just don't go thinking you're better than me." Sasuke warned, sounding like a coiled cobra ready to strike.

Naruto took this in, and surprised Sasuke by grinning. "You're afraid of me."

"What?" Sasuke asked, too blindsided by the accusation to feel offended.

"I've done nothing today that can be considered a threat to you, and yet here you are demanding I lose on purpose to you in tomorrow's test so you can get the top score. You don't know what I can do, and that scares you. You're afraid of what I can do, or you're afraid you'll be humiliated by me getting a better score than you. Either way, you're afraid of me."

Now the Uchiha was truly pissed, and trying to radiate enough killing intent that it should affect the building too. But Naruto just yawned in a taunting reply. He had fought against beings with more power than anyone in this world could shake a stick at. The self-proclaimed avenger standing before him was by comparison little more than a cockroach. Not even worth taking seriously.

"You finished trying to stare me down yet? I gotta go get something to eat. Be nice to have real food again." Naruto commented then turned around.

"Don't you turn your back on me!" The Uchiha yelled as he threw a punch at the back of the Uzumaki's head. However Sasuke's attack failed when his target disappeared into thin air.

"What the hell?" Sasuke looked around for Naruto but couldn't find him, until the whiskered blonde reappeared behind the Sasuke, his sword pressed against the Uchiha's neck.

"I'm not gonna fight you today, Sasuke. I'll save that for tomorrow, just be ready to be beaten by a 'dead last' in the meantime." Naruto said then once again disappeared, leaving the Uchiha enraged at this humiliation.

Next Time – A Secret Revealed


	3. 3 A Secret Revealed

**Chapter 3 - A Secret Revealed.**

[Konohagakure]

When Naruto reminded the Hokage that he would need a residence, he was certainly not expecting to be given the same place he lived in prior to his time in Hueco Mundo. He stalled on entering, half-expecting the interior to be reduced to little more than a breeding ground for dust and mold.

So Naruto was quite surprised to find his apartment completely untouched. He thought for sure that some of the crazy villagers would have come here to ransack the room and then burn it down, yet here it was, nothing out of place and only a light amount of dust. Like he had only been gone for seven days instead of seven years. But of course that was not the case, Naruto confirmed earlier by checking multiple calenders. He had truly been gone from Konoha for seven years.

And if the calenders didn't convince him, the inside of his fridge and pantry sure did. Everything inside was expired and smelled like not only something had died but the mold on it had died too by now. He could not open the windows to air out the place fast enough.

'Okay, I definitely have to buy some groceries. But I can wait. Tonight I want something I can't shop for.' He thought.

He left his apartment and headed to the one location he had missed since he left Konoha: Ichiraku Ramen. He walked into the stand and sat down at what used to be his usual spot all those years ago. Now that he was back, it was going to stay being his usual spot. Memories of all the times he had come here to enjoy a good bowl of ramen flooded his mind as he anticipated tasting the finest ramen in all of the shinobi world.

"Hello and welcome to Ichira- Naruto? Is that you?" A teenage brunette girl in a waiter chef outfit asked when she came out to greet the customer.

"If it isn't then someone's doing a very good job impersonating me." He joked.

"Dad, come here and see this!" Ayame said as she went outside and hugged Naruto. Her father came out from the kitchen at the mention of Naruto's name.

"Well I'll be, it's good to see you again Naruto. I'll be honest, I thought I wasn't going to ever see you again." Teuchi said, as Ayame pulled away from Naruto and went back inside.

"You know I can't be parted from your ramen forever. I'd come back from the afterlife for it. In fact, you could say I did." The blonde joked, flashing his trademark smile at them. "One bowl of pork ramen."

"Just one?" Both Teuchi and Ayame said together.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I want to savor this. Not cram it down my throat."

The two chefs smiled and nodded, and in no time gave him his order. "This one is on the house Naruto as a token of our missing you. But sadly only this one is free. We do run a business after all."

"Yeah, and if you gave me every bowl for free tonight you'd be out of business." The whiskered blonde jest. He broke apart the chopsticks and slowly slurped up the first bit of ramen, resulting in a sigh of happiness. "Still as good as it was the last time. Maybe even better."

In Hueco Mundo, Naruto was given a set limit on what to eat, mainly because the realm had nothing for a living person to get nutrition from and thus Hollows had to get him food from other worlds. Which they couldn't do regularly so often they stocked up and Naruto had to pace himself to make it last. As for something to drink, tea was provided by Aizen….. most of the time, and other than that he had just water. Which was good considered most of Hueco Mundo was a desert.

After eating and paying for more ramen, Naruto decided to head back to the apartment and rest up for tomorrow, promising to see the Ichiraku's again soon.

'I wonder how best to unveil what I've learned tomorrow.' He asked himself as he laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. The thoughts of all the shocked faces brought a smile to his face. 'Not too much, nothing that will appear as inhuman or something they can't comprehend. That will only make them say "The demon is doing something". But if that Uchiha is afraid of me, he's not the only one, so why not give them a reason to be afraid?'

"Tomorrow everyone will learn that I'm the top guy now." Naruto said to himself before he fell asleep.

_[The next day]_

Naruto woke up and put back on his outfit before he walked out the door. As he made his way to the Academy he noticed that he was still getting ugly looks from some of the villagers. 'Guess someone recognized me and felt it was their civic duty to tell everyone I was back. Whoever it was really needs to get a hobby.'

The looks didn't improve when he got to the Academy. Some of the parents saw Naruto only as a monster that the Yondaime merely weakened so they could finish off; the idea that Kyuubi couldn't do anything while inside his cage never crossed their minds. It actually sickened Naruto to know that despite all the praise they give their Hokage, at the end of the day they don't trust him at all.

'Eventually these stares will change.' Naruto thought to reassure himself.

Not everyone stared at him with hatred in their eyes, there were some friendly faces in the mix. Those looks came from the families of Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba, whom Naruto had spent a small amount of time with before he left for Las Noches. Though by now he had forgotten them. It had been seven years and they were five years old back then, few people have memories good enough to recall that much detail.

A few minutes later Naruto made his way into the classroom and took his seat; he looked to his left and saw Sasuke, who was still seething after what happened yesterday.

"I'm going to embarrass you in front of the entire class, you loser." Sasuke hissed to himself as he ignored the usual screeching from his arriving fan girls.

Sakura, one of these fangirls, decided to get on Sasuke's good side… by pushing Naruto around.

"You might as well quit, baka. Sasuke-kun is the best and you can't compete with him. For all we know, your training didn't help you at all, so why don't you just leave before you end up embarrassing yourself?" The pinkette basically demanded said as she hit Naruto in the back of the head. Which was a very bad idea.

Naruto's face was planted to his desk as a result; even though Naruto did hit the desk pretty hard it didn't break since Sakura didn't have that kind of strength yet. Plus it wasn't the desk she was hoping to break. Naruto looked up from his desk, straightened his back, took a deep breath, and stood up.

_[A few moments later]_

Iruka was very excited to see how his students fared in the tests. He had trained them well and silently wished the best of luck to them. He was even more excited, though, to see how powerful Naruto had become because with him there was a great element of surprise to come.

Thanks to Gin and Tosen getting involved, Iruka never got a real chance to look out for Naruto or do much of anything. And he had to admit for a time he suspected the boy was influenced by the Kyuubi, but with his long absence it became harder and harder to really think about Naruto and eventually he didn't think at all anymore. Seeing him now, all he could say was it was hard to believe that the Kyuubi had enough patience to wait twelve years to do anything, so it was reasonable that Naruto was uninfluenced.

But just to be sure, Iruka had consulted the Hokage about the situation, in an attempt to understand if the boy was really fit to take the graduation test and nothing else. Sarutobi had seen this coming and knew just what to say.

"I understand your concern Umino-san, and in all honesty I worry about how much Naruto has changed in his absence. But change is natural with age, and so rather than try and hold onto who Naruto used to be or be paranoid over what he may become, I believe we should learn to understand and bond with who he now is. The fact that he wishes to become a ninja and be on a genin team shows he still loves this village and wants to bond with people in it, and that is something to nurture, not fear."

A smile on his face from those words, Iruka opened the door and stood in front of the class. "Good morning class. Before we start, I just wanted to say I'm proud of all of you for making it this far and I think tha- OH KAMI! Sakura what happened to your face?!" He yelled as he looked over at a bruised Sakura.

After Sakura had smacked Naruto, Naruto simply smirked and punched her in her face, causing her to hit the floor. Hard. And he was using only one and a half percent of his strength. After Sakura didn't move for a while Naruto picked her up and sat her in her desk before he proceeded to gently shake her until she regained consciousness. When Sakura came to, however, the pain of Naruto's attack hit her so fast that she would have screamed in pain if Naruto hadn't covered her mouth with his hand. After he whispered something in her ear he removed his hand; Sakura decided to stay quiet until Iruka came in. Sakura now looked at Naruto, who looked back at her allowing Iruka to make the connection; he decided not to say anything about it, however, as he figured Sakura probably said or did something that was stupid enough to force Naruto to respond like this.

"Naruto punched her in the face and she fell on the floor." A random student from the class said to the chunin, conveniently leaving out the fact that Sakura started it all.

"Is that so? We'll about this after talk after the exams, Naruto." Iruka said as Naruto gave a nod in understanding. "Everyone we're going to start with the jutsu tests. You each one at a time will perform three simple jutsu to show how well you've learned to use chakra. They will be the Transformation, Substitution, and Clone Jutsu. Line up please."

The students rushed to form a line, the most eager ones trying to get to the front to show off their skills first, while others felt they could wait. Sasuke went to the front, with his fangirls determined to be close to him for that purpose alone, not to show their skills early on.

"Umm, Iruka-sensei." Naruto calmly called out, and gave the chuunin a piece of paper.

Iruka took it and looked it over. "Ah, I see. Alright then."

"What's that supposed to be? Some excuse to get out of embarrassing himself?" Sakura asked in an accusing way.

"No, Naruto's been excused from having to do the clone jutsu of the test." Iruka answered. "He's got a, as it says here, medical condition that results in his chakra coils being very overactive and thus affecting his control."

"Ha! I knew all that so-called training you were getting away from here was useless!" Sakura gleefully declared to the blonde boy, mouth hurting in the process but it was worth it to undermine the boy who apparently bothered Sasuke.

"Actually Sakura, that's the only thing in this test that requires high levels of chakra control. Most of the time you can get away with not having it. So it's not exactly the most mandatory part of the test. Besides, last year one of the passing students had no chakra at all to use, and yet he's still a genin. Naruto's sort of the opposite here, too much chakra to use with precision."

"Too much?" Sasuke repeated, not liking the sound of that. "How much does he have?"

"That's not really any of your business now is it?" Iruka challenged. "Now worry about your own ability to pass then someone elses, okay?"

Sasuke relented and proceeded, and over the course of the hour everyone else did. When it was Naruto's turn everyone wanted to see how well he did, some out of mere curiosity and some hoping to see him fail miserably. The latter group was terribly disappointed.

After that came a small written test allowing them to have time to recover their spent chakra. Naruto wasn't worried about this, as even though Aizen and the Espada never really prioritized academic accomplishments, they did want him smart instead of just strong, and so they provided him with books detailing his own world he'd need to read.

The final test would be almost everyone's favorite, the combat skills portion, where the students would spar with each other to showcase their fighting skills.

The first match was Choji Akimichi versus Kiba Inuzuka, and it ended unusually quickly thanks to Chouji getting behind a charging Kiba and pinning him down, essentially sitting on him until the chuunin instructor called it in his favor. When Kiba walked away it looked like his back needed to be popped.

The next match was between two civilians and both used the same kind of taijutsu, one Naruto concluded was a standard of the academy. 'Weird, this place should teach more than one taijutsu style, both to show diversity in what to expect as ninja and to make it less predictable for any enemy familiar with it. Genin need an element of surprise to survive.'

After that was Sakura Haruno against Shikamaru Nara, the latter looking like he didn't want to be there, but to his credit he didn't back down. Once called Sakura charged at Shikamaru like she wanted to end it quickly, and he waited for just the right moment to quickly position his right elbow to hit her in her already sore face. The pinkette collapsed screaming and Shikamaru just watched, knowing any apology during the match was more than pointless. He was declared the winner and Sakura went to the nurse.

In the next match, Hinata Hyuuga was paired against Ino Yamanaka. The platinum blonde might have actually won had she kept her distance, but she must have forgotten or ignored anything she ever heard about the Juuken and pretty much doomed herself by getting close to the white-eyed girl. After the match ended and she in a show of good faith reversed the damage she had inflicted, Hinata looked over at Naruto to see if he watched her. Naruto looked back at her and gave her a smile and nod, causing Hinata to blush on the outside and to jump up and down in her mind.

When the girl went to sit down back where she first was, she was stopped by someone speaking to her.

"Good job there, that was the best taijutsu I've seen all day." Naruto complimented.

The white-eyed girl smiled and blushed. "Oh, I'm not that good."

"Compared to what I've seen you're great." The whiskered blonde claimed. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki by the way, in case you didn't catch it." He added to be polite. There was no reason to be rude.

"Thank you, I'm Hinata Hyuuga." She politely introduced back.

"Want to sit here?" Naruto offered, gesturing to an empty spot beside him. "You won't want to keep standing there."

Not really having a reason to say no, Hinata complied and sat down, refusing to call attention to the looks she was getting for it. "Thank you again."

"No problem. By the way, I was wondering something Hinata. Each time you did something today you look to me when you're done. Was I just imagining that?" His tone was simply curious, not forceful or accusing.

For a moment Hinata did not know how to answer. "Well, to be honest, I was hoping to make a good impression." At his curious but confused look she continued. "I'm one of the low-ranked members of this class, and with me being from a clan everyone in class treats it as something shameful. I was hoping if I did good you at least wouldn't look down on me too." While not the entire truth, it was a portion she was willing to say to him.

He surprised her by smiling. "Don't worry about it. I've never been one to prioritize titles."

After a few other fights it was time for Sasuke and Naruto's little spar, something that Naruto was certain was in no way chosen at random. Someone wanted to see these two fight, and while there was clearly no shortage of that given the girls cheering for the Uchiha, Naruto was certain it was someone in a position of authority who made the choice.

'It had to be Iruka, and I doubt he wants to see one of us crush the other for kicks. No, he's trying to test me and he must be certain Sasuke is the closest thing to a match or challenge he has available to offer.' Naruto deduced, walking out into the little grass area where the spar would take place

Before the match could be started, Naruto unsheathed his zanpakuto and stuck it in the ground. To the others, this was a simple thing since it was a taijutsu match after all, no weapons or jutsu allowed beyond doujutsu. However, to those who knew him in Las Noches, this had a deeper motive. It meant that he would fight the opponent in question, but still saw him as a waste of his time.

"I'm gonna crush you loser, and prove that you are what we all know you as… a nobody." Sasuke said, getting screams of approval from the fan girls and a raised eyebrow from Naruto.

"Don't get cocky Sasuke. In case you haven't noticed, you're the only one who seems to think I'm in last place. The teachers here have said absolutely nothing in regards to my standing compared to others here."

"It doesn't matter, if I say you're a nobody then you're a nobody."

"Is that so?" Naruto mockingly replied, with an appropriate smile. "Well then, why don't I make your victory a little bit easier, oh great Uchiha?"

As usual, Sasuke was quick to frown. "And how do plan to you do that?"

Naruto held up one arm and put it behind his back. "I will give you an advantage. One hand… no, one finger is all I will use for this spar. Does that sound good to you? Or do I have to fight with my eyes closed too?" Naruto said smirking, while the Uchiha just frowned. Naruto closed his free hand into a fist, save for his index finger.

Iruka said anything before Sasuke could. "Naruto, don't mock your opponent this way. There's no honor in defeating someone with so much of a handicap."

"Consider this moment a test of Sasuke's character then Iruka-sensei. A test to see what he values more, how he wins or if he wins. Something you probably should include in your tests next time you have a class." Naruto added.

"Do what you want, you'll still lose no matter what." Sasuke said as he readied himself for a fight.

Naruto shrugged. "Just remember, you were given a chance to make your defeat look less humiliating."

"Ready? Begin!" Iruka said.

Sasuke made the first move when he charged at Naruto. His opening move was a right hook but this was dodged by Naruto sidestepping the punch. Not really surprised, Sasuke then tried a body kick, which Naruto easily evaded. Now Sasuke was getting annoyed, especially since his opponent was just dodging and doing a good job of it. He kept using attack after attack, but nothing connected.

Then, it happened. Sasuke finally managed to hit Naruto, in the chin with an uppercut.

Everyone held their breath, thinking the Uchiha had finally won the fight. But as soon as the thought came it went away because Naruto was clearly unfazed by the blow. He stood there, same as always, and even chuckling, which then turned in to all out laughter.

"Are you serious? That's it? I gotta say, I knew you were weaker than what I'm used to fighting, but by my standards this is beyond pathetic." Naruto said as he looked at the Uchiha.

"Why you-!" Sasuke snarled, just before Naruto placed his finger on Sasuke's chest. Before Sasuke could react, Naruto used his one finger to push the dark-haired boy back, applying enough force to send him flying back to the academy building. When Sasuke crashed, the amount of force Naruto had used caused him to go right through the wall, leaving a noticeable hole.

The fan girls immediately crowded the now unconscious Uchiha while Naruto picked up his sword, sheathed it and walked away with a wide smile.

"Umm... winner, Naruto Uzumaki." Iruka announced.

As the whiskered was about to go back inside to await the official total results, and thus receive his headband, Iruka stopped him, away from the other students.

"Naruto, about earlier, I'm sure Sakura did something or said something stupid, it wouldn't be the first time. But please have better control over your attacks from now on; that goes for this little display as well." Iruka said as he got a nod from Naruto.

"Don't worry, that was just so she knew not to hit me again. If she decides it was just a fluke, well, as far as I know I have as much right to defend myself as she does to antagonize me. As for Sasuke, I actually held back….. a lot. I don't think you want to see me give 100% in a fight, ever. Pray you don't have to." Naruto said with a grin as he walked back to the Academy, leaving the scarred chuunin hoping that was just normal student hype.

The school day ended and as expected Naruto passed and was given his hitai-ate. He asked if he could have a white one, but was denied, told blue was all they had and he'd have to customize it himself if he wished.

Despite the angry looks from some of the villagers who were picking up their children, Naruto was more than satisfied with becoming a full-fledged shinobi of Konoha. Before he went on his way home he saw the only person he had truly interacted with, Hinata, being greeted by what he could only assume was her father.

"Hey Hinata, congratulations on becoming a shinobi." Naruto said, coming up to her.

"Um… th-thank you, Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a blush while her father, Hiashi, just smiled at the two.

"Congratulations to you too. I hope that you and my daughter will do great things for Konoha." Hiashi added, as Naruto nodded in response.

"We will. I've gotta go now, so I'll see you around, Hinata." Naruto said, walking away as Hinata waved goodbye.

Hiashi simply looked at the young Naruto. 'I don't know what you did for her, but I thank you for it; though she still has a long way to go, you helped her gain some confidence in herself.'

Naruto made his way back to his apartment and found a note pinned to the door when he arrived.

_Naruto, I want to congratulate you on becoming a shinobi. I have something I wanted to talk to you about; think of it as a reward for becoming a shinobi. Meet me at the Hokage Tower after reading this note._

_Signed,_

_The Third Hokage_

Naruto then used a flash step to get to the Hokage Tower. Sarutobi was waiting for him outside at the top of the tower, smoking his usual pipe; he nearly dropped his pipe in shock when Naruto appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

"You got here fast. How'd you do that?" Sarutobi asked, surprised by how fast the boy could move.

"It's a technique called a flash step; it's one of the things I learned at Las Noches. Easy to learn but difficult to master. Anyways, what did you want to talk to me about?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, have you ever wondered about who your parents might be?" Sarutobi asked, getting a raised eyebrow from the boy.

"Sometimes. I always thought that my parents died during the Kyuubi's attack. After I earned the Kyuubi's trust I tried asking him about my parents to see if he knew but he's been very reluctant to tell me." Naruto said while taking note of the fact that Sarutobi's eyes widened in shock.

"How did you find out about the Kyuubi?" Sarutobi asked as he had made it clear that it was forbidden to mention the Kyuubi's presence within Naruto to the boy.

"Aizen, the man who helped train me, told me." Naruto calmly to which Hiruzen did a facepalm; he had forgotten that he had not mentioned this rule to the two men who had taken Naruto with them seven years ago.

"I see… well your parents did die during the Kyuubi attack, but your father is the one who sealed the Kyuubi in you, to protect the village." Sarutobi said as he saw that Naruto was looking at him as if he had two heads.

"That's impossible. That would mean that my dad is-" Naruto said before Sarutobi finished the sentence for him.

"The Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze." Sarutobi said; Naruto's face was suddenly painted with feelings of shock, then happiness, and then anger, which Sarutobi had expected…to an extent.

"My own father…sealed the Kyubi inside me." Naruto said as he clenched his fists.

"I thought you might react that way, but you have to understand that he had faith that you would one day be able to control it, which you have. And I can promise you that your father truly did care about and would not have done it if he didn't have a good reason to." Sarutobi said he placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder; this revelation helped calm Naruto calm down.

"That makes sense, and I guess being the son of the Yondaime makes up for it." Naruto said. Sarutobi smiled at seeing how much Naruto had matured since he left.

"I have something I want to show you. Follow me." Sarutobi said before leading Naruto out of the Hokage Tower.

He led him to the Namikaze Estate, which was located about a half a mile outside of Konoha; the place was, needless to say, enormous, as it was twice as big as the Hyuga estate. Naruto saw that the place was surrounded by a barrier, with a blood seal on the front door keeping it intact.

"Go ahead, release the seal." Sarutobi said, to which Naruto looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto placed his hand on the seal, which quickly deactivated the barrier; Naruto was a little bit shocked that it worked.

"So is this place mine now?" Naruto asked to which as Sarutobi nodded.

"Yes, but let's not move in yet. It's best for us to make sure that everyone knows you're the son of the Fourth before getting comfortable in your birthright." Sarutobi explained.

Naruto nodded in agreement. "That sounds fair to me. Thanks for showing me this, old man." He then hugged the old kage.

"I knew you were strong enough to know the truth now." Sarutobi said as he broke off the hug and walked back to the tower.

'I hope you're watching me dad, because your son is about to become the greatest shinobi of all time.' Naruto as he looked one last time at the estate before reactivating the barrier.

Next Time – Teams and Problems


	4. 4 Teams and Problems

**Chapter 4- Teams and Problems**

Disclaimer: Still applies

[Academy Classroom, Konohagakure]

Naruto was a bit anxious today. And for good reason, today was the day where he would get put into a genin team. He just hoped he didn't get put into a group of morons, primarily Sasuke and Sakura, if at all possible. He especially hoped he didn't get the both of them. Oh Kami, he prayed that he didn't have those two.

He had to admit he didn't really know anyone from that class well enough to specifically want them as teammates. Hinata was so far the only one he actually had a conversation with. Shino Aburame was silent and kept to himself, so he was unlikely to give Naruto any trouble. Shikamaru while a bit annoying learned from the spar that with Naruto it was a good idea to be on good terms with.

Iruka came into the classroom a few minutes later to address the class, thus disrupting the whiskered blonde's train of thought.

"Welcome class. First off, I would like to congratulate all of you for passing and becoming genin. As you know, this means that you will now be put into teams of three under a jounin sensei and will carry out missions with them. Now, for the team assigning. Team 1 will be …" Iruka said as he announced several teams; this continued until he got to Team 7.

"Team Seven will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha,"

Naruto right away just put his head down in anger, ignoring the pink-haired girl cheering like she won the lottery.

'Kami-sama, you have cruel sense of humor.' Naruto thought to himself, then raised his head to look at Sasuke and Sakura, seeing that they weren't too happy about being with him either.

The rest of the teams were announced, and were soon picked up by their respective senseis. Two hours later Team Seven still was waiting for a sensei that had yet to show up, and Naruto was getting pretty tired of waiting for a sensei that, to be perfectly blunt, probably couldn't teach him much. People far more powerful than anyone in Konoha, or the entire shinobi planet for that matter, had trained him personally.

And even if he ignored the power levels, Naruto had a greater concern. He suspected his squad leader would probably favor the Uchiha and spoil the little punk with jutsus like they were candy. Naruto had to drown out these thoughts as they were making him sick to his stomach; if nothing else, he was interesting in seeing just how he faired against a jonin.

"Ugh, where is he? He couldn't have gotten lost, could he?" Sakura asked as she wondered what was taking their squad leader so long.

"Sakura, it's bad enough that I am stuck on the same team as you; please don't make things worse by annoying me with your useless blabber." Naruto said as Sakura made an angry look in response.

"What did you say, you ignorant ba-?" Sakura said before Naruto gave her one of those 'remember what I can do to you' looks, silencing her.

"Hmph." Sasuke said as he was annoyed at both his teammates and wished he didn't have to wait around with them.

The classroom door opened a couple of hours later to reveal a man with gray hair, a mask that covered half of his face, a standard jonin outfit, and a headband that covered one of his eyes. He walked in and briefly observed the three genin.

"Okay, you three are with me. Come outside so we can talk a little." The man said as the young ninja got up and followed him outside.

"Okay, now I'm going to ask you guys to introduce yourselves for us all. Say things like what you like, what you hate, and what you dream about for the future. I'll start off. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislike. My dreams for the future… Hmm… As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies." Kakashi said while Naruto and the others had anime sweat drops on their heads.

'Well that was… informative.' Naruto dryly thought to himself.

"Okay now, blonde kid, tells us a little bit about you." Kakashi back as Naruto regained his focus and straightened out his back.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen and hanging around with my friends. I don't really hate anything but I don't approve of bad attitudes or giant egos. My dream is right now no one's business, but I can say becoming Hokage does sound good to me." Naruto said as Kakashi nodded at the son of his late sensei.

'He's certainly gotten much more powerful than even I am.' Kakashi thought to himself, having taken note of Naruto's immense power. "Your turn." He said to Sakura.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like..." She giggled instead of speak specifically. "Well, the person I like..." Again she giggled instead of answer, but her eyes lingered on Sasuke. "I hate Naruto and anyone who doesn't like Sasuke-kun. My dream is to get what I want out of life." Sakura said while annoying both Naruto and Kakashi in the process.

'Oh perfect, a fan girl.' Kakashi thought, trying to avoid rolling his eyes at his new student. "Your turn." He told Sasuke.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything or anyone. What I have is not a dream, because dreams are just fantasies and what I want will be made reality. I'm going to kill a certain someone, then restore the Uchiha in my image."

Sakura began to look worried after hearing this, while Naruto just shook his head as if he were just disappointed.

'Revenge, the one thing that will make anyone a pain in the ass.' The young blonde thought to himself as he looked at Sasuke. Kakashi looked at Naruto's expression and realized that whatever thoughts he had probably matched his own thoughts about what Sasuke just said.

"Okay then, now that that's out of the way, there's only one thing left. Tomorrow I'm going to give you guys a little exercise, the same one I used with other genin-wannabes assigned to me in the past."

"What do you mean Sensei? We just graduated." Sakura pointed out.

"That was just part one of the graduation process. I'm in charge of part two for the three of you. And you should note that so far none of the potential teams that were tested by me managed to pass." Kakashi clarified.

Sakura looked nervous, Sasuke looked unimpressed yet cautious, and Naruto looked like this was nothing new to him. The silver-haired jounin took note of their reactions to see how much faith they had in themselves.

"So get some rest and meet me at Training Ground 7 at 6:00 AM. I would also advise that you don't eat anything in the morning if I were you." Kakashi said before he left, leaving his students to their thoughts about his advice.

Sakura was worried, wondering what there was left to test her on. Sasuke wasn't worried about his performance, but he did get the feeling that whether or not he passed would be based on the performance of the other two. Which to him was greatly unfair. Naruto, on the other hand, was not fazed by Kakashi's warning in the slightest, as he already knew that Kakashi was bluffing.

'You might have these other two fooled, but you'll soon find that I'm much sharper than that.' Naruto thought as he headed back to his apartment. Neither of his teammates stopped him, as neither really wanted him around in the first place.

[Next morning]

Naruto woke up early and ate a plentiful breakfast before he made his way to the assigned training ground, which wasn't that hard to find given how the Academy made sure each student had a map of them. He came to a stop by a couple of wooden posts often used for target practice. There was also a diamond-shaped polished black stone that Naruto presumed was a monument of a short.

'Heroes Memorial Stone, so the greatest of Konoha's heroes will never be forgotten.' Naruto thought, reading the inscription on it then numerous names. 'Seems like a weird place to put a monument.'

Sakura and Sasuke showed up a few seconds later, their stomachs growling from not having eaten yet. In Sakura's case she hadn't even eaten dinner last night to be sure, despite her parents urging for otherwise.

'Pathetic.' Naruto mentally chuckled. 'They actually thought starving themselves was a good idea?'

"Where is he?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto shrugged. "No idea, I haven't sensed him yet."

"Sensed? You're a sensor type?" Sakura asked.

"A precise explanation would be too difficult to explain, so let's make it easier on all of us and go with yes I am." Naruto replied, confusing the two. Luckily they didn't press the matter.

After a couple of hours and the three getting really impatient, Kakashi finally showed up.

"Good morning every-" He started, only to be silenced by a kunai going past his head he did not see thrown.

"Being late once is an accident, but twice is no accident." Naruto, arm outstretched to show he threw it, told the older man in a tone that was clearly warning.

"You baka. You can't attack a jounin like that." Sakura fumed.

"It's not an attack if I miss on purpose." The whiskered blonde calmly replied, no hint of apology detected.

Kakashi sweated a minor bit, getting the message from his potential student loud and clear. Though he was sure Naruto was bluffing more than anything, the fact that the boy could attack him like that showed bluffing was not he could do.

"Now that I'm here we can start the test that will truly prove your worthiness to become genin." He stated to regain their attention. "This exercise will be a simple one, all you have to do is take one of these two bells from me." He held up two bells that looked like the kind pet cats played with. "The two who succeed in taking a bell will pass the test, while the one who doesn't will be tied to one of those posts there."

"That's it? And here I was thinking that this would be a little bit challenging." Naruto said while popping his neck.

"I thought that we would be fighting or something." Sasuke said while Sakura nodded in 'agreement'. Honestly she had been hoping for something more in her comfort zone, like answering some more questions.

"You may think this is too simple, but I haven't told you this next part. I've been nice enough to provide food for you three." Kakashi added, showing them a stack of three bentos, making Sasuke and Sakura feel even hungrier. "These are if you pass. So the one of you that doesn't get one of the bells won't get any food, period."

"That's why you didn't want us to eat this morning." Sakura said, surprised, before Naruto gave a slow clap.

"And the light finally turns on." Naruto said sarcastically, getting an angry glance from the potential kunoichi.

"Getting back to what I was saying, going hungry like that pales in comparison to what I'm about to tell you next. So try to not freak out when you hear it." Kakashi advised. Sasuke's eyes widened a bit when he heard this while Sakura gulped. The tension in the air grew as Kakashi waited a few seconds before he continued.

"The two who get a bell will continue on to do another exercise while the one who failed to get a bell will not only fail the test... he or she will be sent back to the academy immediately. This 'too simple' test is actually an extremely difficult post-academy exam with a failure rate of over 66%. In other words out of the 27 graduates this year only nine will be chosen to become genin." Kakashi declared, taking a moment to mentally enjoy the reactions from Sasuke and Sakura before he saw that Naruto wasn't even fazed in the least.

'I see... that's very clever, Kakashi. If it wasn't for my time training at Las Noches I wouldn't have figured out what you really want from us. Too bad these two haven't figured it out yet, that's going to affect my chances of passing.' Naruto thought to himself.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at his unconcerned student. 'Hmm... he either thinks that he's already strong enough to beat me, or however unlikely it is, he's actually figured out what the true purpose of this test really is.' Shaking off these thoughts Kakashi refocused his attention to the three graduates.

"Alright, you three. I want you guys to use whatever means you have to take these bells, and that includes the use of any ninja tools and jutsus. If you have to, be prepared to kill me. You won't get the bells any other way. Understood?" Kakashi asked, and the genin nodded in agreement.

'It's time to see how I fair.' Naruto thought as he readied himself for battle.

"Ready? Go!" Kakashi declared, placing an egg timer on a post and setting it for one hour.

Right away Sakura and Sasuke scattered but Naruto stayed put, crossing his arms.

"I have no intention of hiding and waiting. Honestly, I don't even know why they just did. Frankly they could have at least tried to get the bells when you were right there in front of them."

'Maybe I overestimated him.' Kakashi thought, suddenly thinking Naruto was a bit full of himself. "Maybe they know they have better odds of succeeding if they catch me off guard, so they hid to do so."

Naruto laughed. "Oh please. Catch you off guard? You're a jounin and they're not even genin yet. You've had years of experience to get where you are, and all they've done is work in controlled environments with chuunin ordered to go easy on them. If you really could be caught off guard by them then there's no way the Hokage would consider you worthy of being a sensei to a genin squad."

Hiding in a bush, Sakura heard this and lightly frowned. 'He's dissing us, but at the same time I have to admit he has a point. So what can Sasuke-kun and I do to pass?'

"So what are you going to do then?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm going to see right now how I compare with one of what Konoha considers the best it has to offer." Naruto said, cracking a smile as Kakashi readied himself.

"I admit I've actually wanted to see what you can do as well." The cycloptic jounin said while pulling out an orange book from one of his pouches.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow at his sensei.

"Finding out what happens at the end." Kakashi said as he saw Naruto facefault.

The whiskered blonde got up, with the jounin making no attempt to keep him down, and almost right away Naruto disappearing in a Flash step.

"What the-?" Kakashi asked himself before some new shade made him look up and see Naruto above him, coming down with one leg raised vertically in the air.

"Hollow Leg Drop!" Naruto yelled as he brought his leg down on Kakashi, causing a huge crater in the process.

'Holy crap!' Sasuke and Sakura thought to themselves, with their jaws dropped, as they witnessed the immense power Naruto had just displayed.

'He could have done that while fighting me.' Sasuke noted, hiding in a tree.

When the dust settled, Naruto stood over a log that was broken in half.

"A substitution jutsu. This guy is quick on his feet." Naruto said as he looked around for his sensei.

"I have to admit I wasn't expecting that. I guess I won't be able to fight and read a book at the same time with him on my heels." Kakashi thought out loud as he hid in a tree from his student. With that he put his book back into its pouch.

"How in the name of Kami-sama did you get so strong, baka?" Sakura asked as she and Sasuke came out of hiding and walked to Naruto.

"Years of intense training not based on a thirst for revenge." Naruto said, having clearly directed the second part of his comment at Sasuke.

"Are you saying that my way is wrong? That I shouldn't punish the man responsible for my clan's destruction?" Sasuke asked, offended, while Naruto just shook his head.

"You just don't get it."

Sasuke just huffed and began to walk away. "Whatever, I'm gonna go find him and get my bell." He then disappeared, leaving Naruto and Sakura by themselves.

"Sasuke-kun will definitely get a bell. He'll also help me get one too so we can be together." Sakura said with certainty, to which Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"First, no one asked. Second, why don't you try getting one yourself rather than be dependent on him doing the work for you?" He chided.

Not wanting to hear it, Sakura swung a fist to get him to shut up, but he caught her arm and held it in a tight grip, making her wince. "Alright, I'm sorry." She hissed through gritted teeth, trying to withstand the pain.

Naruto released her and she rubbed her hurt arm. "That idiot won't get a bell with the kind of attitude he showed. Even if he did manage to beat Kakashi, he still wouldn't get a bell."

Sakura looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"This is what I mean." Naruto declared with a smile, holding up both bells.

Sakura's eyes widened. "What? When did you get those?"

"When I disappeared, I snatched the bells quickly and then moved above Kakashi. I'm actually surprised he didn't notice." He said while Sakura's eyes sparkled at the bells.

"So I guess I have to beat you to get the bells. Let's do this." Sakura getting ready only to get laughed at by Naruto.

"As much as I would love to show you what really happens when I'm on the giving end of hitting someone, you're still my teammate." Naruto said to Sakura as he tossed her a bell and started to walk off.

"Wait, why did you just give it to me so willingly? I wouldn't if the situation was reversed." Sakura asked.

Naruto turned his head around and looked at her. "Because I'm not you. And you'll need it more than me." He said before flash-stepping away, leaving Sakura lost in thought.

Naruto searched around for Sasuke. He expected to see him fighting Kakashi, but he found something else. Sasuke was neck-deep in the ground, having been put there because of Kakashi. Naruto had to fight the urge to snicker at the 'prodigy's' situation.

"So I guess you didn't get a bell, huh?" Naruto said.

This got him Sasuke's attention, as well as a frown. "I almost had him. What do you want loser?" Sasuke asked, while Naruto stood a few inches from his face.

"Your goal to get revenge for your clan isn't going to get you anywhere." Naruto replied. Sasuke was shocked at what Naruto just said.

"I have to avenge my clan. What do you know about it?" Sasuke hissed while Naruto just looked at him with a calm and collected expression.

"I don't know what it's like to lose your whole clan, but if you continue to go down this path of revenge, in the end you'll have nothing. Let's say you succeed in this, once it's done then what will you do?" Naruto asked as Sasuke simply smirked at him.

"Here's my answer, loser." Sasuke said before proceeded to spit on Naruto's sandals.

"Oh well, can't say I didn't try. You don't deserve this, but I really don't care." Naruto said as he dropped the second bell in front of Sasuke.

"When did you get that?" Sasuke asked, but Naruto just flash-stepped away again without responding.

Naruto landed on a tree, where a certain masked, orange book reading jonin was sitting on a branch. Kakashi put his book away and started to slowly clap.

"I'm impressed that you were able to get those bells in such a short time." Kakashi said as Naruto sat down on the tree branch.

"You should've at least attempted to use your Sharingan, though. It would've at least made things more interesting." Naruto said to Kakashi before taking a moment to mentally smirked at the jonin's reaction.

_'How did he... never mind, I don't even want to know.'_ Kakashi thought to himself as he regained his composure.

"Anyways, I'm just surprised that you didn't stop me or try to get the bells back." Naruto said as Kakashi sat down next to him.

"I wanted to see what you would do with them. So, why did you give those two the bells?" Kakashi asked while Naruto thought back at his time in Las Noches.

**-Flashback-**

[Somewhere within Las Noches, Hueco Mundo]

"You really think that you can take me on?" A Fraccion named Apacci asked, enraged that her fellow Fraccion Mila Rose would even try to "take her on".

"Heck yeah I could, you unicorn weakling." Mila Rose said as she got face-to-face with Apacci.

"You two fighting all the time is so childish and trivial." Sun-Sun, the third member of this Fraccion trio, said, getting angry looks from the other two as a result.

"What did you just say?" Apacci asked, getting even madder because of the comment.

Naruto, meanwhile, watched as the three Fraccion members fought amongst themselves from the top of a nearby tower. He saw Tia Harribel, one of the ten Espada and the only woman among them, walking behind him.

"Why do they constantly fight amongst themselves, Harribel-sama? They have to work together as a team with you and the rest of the Arrancar, but all they do is fight each other." Naruto questioned while Harribel walked up to him on his right side.

"You're right, they do fight amongst themselves a lot, but they still work together because of their loyalty to me. Loyalty to a common cause is the key for any team to work together for a united goal. You don't need to be best friends with your comrades as long as you all fight for the same thing with conviction." Harribel proclaimed.

The young boy looked impressed and smiled. "Thanks Harribel-sama. You're really wise."

The Espada grinned under her high collar. "Of course I am."

**-End Flashback-**

[Konoha Training Grounds]

"Lets just say that I had a good teacher that taught me that teamwork isn't based on friendship but loyalty to a higher purpose. These two aren't my friends and I doubt they want that to change, but we can agree we're loyal to Konoha so that's a start." Naruto stated, followed by Kakashi nodding at him.

"Well, the timer should be going off any moment now. You should probably go off somewhere or else I'll-" Kakashi started, but Naruto took off before he was done.

A few seconds later, the timer went off and everyone made their way back to the Hero's Memorial Stone.

"I won your little game." Sasuke stated smugly, showing off his bell.

"Me too!" Sakura happily exclaimed showing her own. "Sasuke-kun and I are going to be a team together." She was too caught up in her excited squeal to hear him groan.

"Good job you two." Kakashi congratulated. "You two can eat now. Naruto, since you don't have a bell you have to be tied to the log."

Naruto frowned. "You never said anything about being tied up."

"How else do I make sure you don't eat?" Kakashi teased.

'He's still testing us. If keeping me from eating was truly the objective here he'd just eat it himself. Either that or he's afraid I'll take it from him like the bells. But since he's letting these two think they've passed he must be planning something.' Naruto thought.

Deciding to see this through, the young blonde willingly went over and let himself be tied up.

Satisfied the boy was restrained, Kakashi looked to Sasuke and Sakura. "You two have not passed the test."

Sakura blanched. "But Sensei we-"

"You were helped by Naruto and only have the bells because he was being generous. You did not earn them of your own merits. And yet you came up to me announcing your victory as if you did. You have yet to convince me you deserve to be official genin. So I'm going to give you one last chance. Go ahead and eat, then we can try this again. But do not give anything to Naruto nor untie him. I'll be away so you can think of what to do this time."

With that the jounin departed in a whirlwind of leaves, leaving the three bentos behind.

"I still don't understand why you helped us, Naruto." Sakura said, taking a bento and giving it to Sasuke who accepted, while Naruto just stared off towards the sky.

"It doesn't matter if you understand my reasons or not. Though I don't like it, you guys are my teammates, so I have to help you." Naruto said while Sasuke scoffed at him while he ate.

"You're an idiot who doesn't know how to take advantage of an opportunity. That's all there is to it." Sasuke said while eating his lunch in front of him in an unsuccessful attempt to irritate Naruto. He stopped when, to his amazement, he saw Sakura raising her lunch to Naruto. Naruto was equally surprised by this move.

"Don't think that this means that I like you or anything, but you did help me. This is just a way for me to thank you." Sakura explained.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank Kami-sama. For a moment I thought you were trying to make me fall for you or something."

The pinkette gave him a dirty look. "Do you want to eat or what?"

"You'll have to untie me or feed it to my mouth. I can't do it myself right now after all." Naruto reminded her. Sakura, while undoubtedly annoyed, understood the message.

"Fine, here." She groaned before taking a little bit of the rice with her chopsticks and holding it to Naruto's mouth.

The moment Naruto swallowed the rice, there was a huge boom. Kakashi appeared a split-second later with an angry expression on his face.

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU NOT TO FEED HIM?!"

Sakura looked scared out of her mind while Naruto had a serious look in his eyes. "I w-was j-j-just giving him s-some of my l-l-lunch s-since he helped m-me get a b-b-bell."

"Is this true Naruto?" Kakashi asked, though he already knew the truth.

"Yep." Naruto replied while Sasuke just looked at him with anger, fearing now all three were going to be punished.

"Well if that's the case…" Kakashi said in an angry tone. Just as Sasuke and Sakura began to brace themselves for the worst, Kakashi suddenly and smiled at them, though it was hidden behind his mask.

"….. you pass." He said cheerfully while getting shocked looks from the two that weren't tied up.

"We… passed?" Sakura said before proceeding to jump up with joy after Kakashi's statement sunk in.

"Well that was a good act you put on there, Sensei." Naruto said. 'For a moment even I was a bit scared by him. Didn't think a human could do that after so much time around Hollows. Eh, that just makes this more interesting.'

"What do you mean we pass?" Sasuke asked, still unsure what was going on.

"This test was not about your strengths, skills. or intelligence, this was all about teamwork and how well you three could work together. You're genin, you're not going to do any solo work for a long time. Like it or not you're going to be trained in a group and as a group. Naruto was the only one who realized this, though it was Sakura's actions that sealed the deal. You actually did nothing to help this team pass Sasuke." Kakashi said as he untied Naruto, making Sasuke frown.

"I figured as much, but why so much deception? If the goal was teamwork, why not have a bell for each of us?" Naruto asked, to which Kakashi responded by pointing at the memorial stone behind him.

"It's something that a close friend of mine taught me. Those who break the rules are scum, but those who betray their teammates are worse than scum." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded in understanding. 'So this test was designed to see if the people partaking in it were able to place their team over the rules. Not the best way he could do this test but not the worst either.'

"So what now?" Sakura asked.

"Now? Team 7 starts missions tomorrow!" Kakashi said as he gave the genin a thumbs up.

'Finally, we can get down to business.' Naruto thought as he left Kakashi and his teammates and headed home.

Next Time – A Mission on Waves


	5. 5 A Mission on Waves

**Chapter 5- A Mission on Waves**

Disclaimer: I thought I owned Naruto for a bit, but it turns out it was just gas

[Mission Assignment Room, Hokage Tower, Konohagakure]

Team Seven had been around for a month under Kakashi's leadership, and in that time they had been working primarily on numerous D-rank missions, all of which felt like community service rather than real ninja training. To both Naruto and Sasuke, it was a major waste of their skills. In Naruto's case most, no forget that, ALL of these missions didn't even require the use of his zanpakuto.

_'I knew when I came to Konoha I couldn't expect too much at the very beginning, but I still expecting something worth my time.'_ Naruto groaned as Team 7 went to the Kage Tower, having just completed a mission to retrieve a lost cat. One that acted like it wanted to stay lost. "This is the tenth time we've done this mission. If I had to do it one more time I'm-"

"Settle down Naruto, I know it's annoying but D-rank missions are a necessary part of the village's economy." Kakashi said, trying to cut off his student's anger before it led to something worse than talking.

"Sensei, I'm serious. This has been ten times and we're not even the only ones who do this lousy mission. The Daimyo's wife only comes by once a week, so this cat gets lost more than once a day. Clearly this woman doesn't give a crap about her cat, so why bother bringing it back? Unless she gets some kind of sick kick out of making us do this over and over again."

While Sasuke and Sakura didn't want to condone his words, they had to admit they too had lost all patience for this mission long ago, and were seriously tempted to say the pay wasn't worth it anymore.

"Just bring it back, and next time we'll let another team handle the cat when it runs off." Kakashi advised.

"Or we can show the kind of teamwork and loyalty to our fellow ninja like you always say we should, and get rid of this cat so they don't have to suffer in our place." Naruto suggested.

"Not an option Naruto." Kakashi said, now taking the cat himself to prevent any of his students from getting ideas.

"So your words about teamwork and helping others has loopholes to it, I'll keep that in mind from now on Sensei." Naruto said quietly, but he knew everyone heard him.

_'He's going to be a hard one to teach.'_ Kakashi thought. _'But testing his limits can be a good thing if nurtured the correct way.'_

Upon returning the runaway cat, the Daimyo's wife crushed it with a hug and paid the Hokage before she left. This wasn't the first time Team 7 had seen this, and while Naruto felt a little sorry for the annoying feline, he was tempted to tell the royal woman to go get her own pet next time.

Once the Daimyo's wife left the room, Naruto decided to voice his frustration. "Old man, this pile of crap that you call 'missions' is not what I thought I was going to be doing when I graduated. Cat chasing, dog walking, weed pulling. If anything this feels like doing chores."

"I understand that these aren't the most ideal missions, but they are essential to the village's financial survival." The Sandaime said, only to receive a frustrated sigh from Naruto and his teammates.

"Is that like a scripted answer or something? Kakashi-sensei said the exact same thing. Can you at least tell us why ninja do these instead of civilians?" Naruto criticized.

"Well for starters, these missions are kept easy so you don't exhaust yourself doing them and training in the same day. You need income as much as you need training."

Naruto slammed his hands on the desk. "Dammit we're not talking about money here! I need something I actually give a crap about! Can't you gave me a mission that might allow me to actually put some of my training to use?"

The whiskered blonde was getting a little edgy over the fact that he hadn't been able to use what he had learned during his training in Las Noches outside of practice sessions with the rest of his team, and even then he couldn't use his full power. Otherwise he risked accidentally killing one of them.

"Well... there is this one C-ranked mission that I have here. A bridge builder from Land of Waves needs a team to escort him back home so that he can finish a bridge." The Sandaime said, taking out a piece of paper from a folder to look over the details.

"Sounds better than walking a dog or pulling out some old woman's weeds." Sasuke said. Like Naruto, he was almost at his wits end with all the ridiculous missions. He was having more fun sparring with his teammates, and while he didn't want to admit it, he was getting a sort of challenge in trying to coax Naruto to show him more than the blonde was willing to show.

So far he had yet to succeed, but Sasuke was nothing if not persistent.

"Okay then, bring out the client." Sarutobi ordered as two chunin near the door of the room went to retrieve the bridge builder.

The client was an old man holding onto a hollow gourd containing alcohol, and despite the time of day he was already drinking. "What is this? I pay ya guys to gibe me top protection and ya give me a cyclops, an emo-looking kid, and a girl who look like she wants people ta look at her. Shouldn't ninja be, I dunno, not like this?"

Naturally this earned him some ugly looks from Sasuke and Sakura, while getting a snicker from Naruto.

"Got anything to say about me?" Naruto asked, curious about what this guy could come up with for him.

"Nice outfit." The bridge builder said, giving Naruto a thumbs up. Naruto chuckled at this, which Sakura and Sasuke got even more steamed.

"Mr. Tazuna, you only had enough money for a low rank escort detail. Besides, you said bandits and highwaymen were the only people that might come after you on your way home so I think that you are in good hands." Sarutobi explained while smiling at Tazuna, who just rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

The Sandaime's comments, and Tazuna's reaction to that comment, caused multiple alarms to ring out in Naruto's mind. _'Why would he expect 'top' protection if he's only worried about a bunch of thugs? Unless he's got reason to believe a real threat is after him, or he's just got a demeaning personality to begin with, he wouldn't be picky about who's escorting him. Hmm... if he's hiding something, then this might just make things interesting.'_ Naruto thought to himself, choosing not to voice his suspicions.

"Shall we go then, Mr. Tazuna?" Kakashi asked Tazuna who gave the jounin a sigh before nodding.

[Las Noches, Hueco Mundo]

"So, our little protege is about to have his first real taste of ninja work." Gin commented as he and Aizen watch the meeting via a holographic projector.

"Yes, but the problem is the kind of first tastes these ninja have is so subpar." Aizen said, sounding disapproving. "Even new shinigami at least are expected to encounter any kind or number of Hollows on their first in-field job. New ninja, usually the only threats they encounter are back sheer accident."

"Pity, he needs a real challenge if he's ever to be properly tested. We can't wait for an accident to present itself."

Aizen smirked. "Oh Gin, what makes you think I'm waiting?"

Gin looked to his fellow former Gotei Captain. "Oh Aizen, did I say that's what you were doing? Frankly it would surprise me if you didn't have something in mind to make this experience more challenging."

"Then I'm one step ahead of you Gin. I've already had a touch in this mission. Why do you think the Hokage wasn't more hesitant to give Naruto a mission? And do you really think it was just chance he happened to have a C-rank mission on hand that would take Naruto out of the village for at least a week?"

Gin silently chuckled. "Now that's the kind of thing I expect of you Aizen. This should be a good experience for Naruto. And for his team too, if they survive that is."

[Main gates, Konohagakure]

After being sent home to get some supplies Kakashi told his students to get in preparation for a journey away from the village, the three genin reunited at the main gate of Konoha. Naruto had his zanpakuto with him; even the Hokage wouldn't have been able to make him leave it behind this time.

"Everyone ready?" Kakashi asked. His students nodded. "Alright, take a diamond formation around Tazuna, I'll take the rear point. This way it will be hard for anything to get to him without having to go through us."

Tazuna and his shinobi escort left the Konoha and headed out to the Land of Waves a few minutes later. Up ahead there was only forest and dirt road, a sight that held much familiarity to most of Team 7 though to Naruto it was completely alien. In Hueco Mundo, what few forests around contained giant wild Hollows.

For the majority of the walk Sasuke didn't say much, Sakura tried to get his attention, and Kakashi rolled his eyes at Sakura's advances while Tazuna drank the rest of his drink. Naruto, on the other hand, was thinking the Espada and his Fracciones.

_'I wonder how Jango and Tiraran are doing. It feels rather lonely without them or the other Espada. Sure, eventually I'll see them since I could easily call for them whenever I please, but there's no need for that just yet. I'd rather not call them just to keep me company, Aizen-sensei might not like that. Wait, is that a puddle on the road?'_

Normally such a sight was nothing out of the ordinary, if it had rained recently. But it hadn't rained anywhere near Konoha for well over a month.

Naruto smirked at this, one of his unique senses immediately telling him everything he needed to know about this puddle. 'I could tell the others, but then I'd have to explain how I know, and right now I want to keep that my secret.

With that in mind, the young blonde walked past the puddle as casual as ever, only to turn around sharply and, with a kunai in his left hand, stab the puddle of water in the center. Tazuna, Sasuke, and Sakura looked at Naruto as if he was crazy until blood pooled out of puddle and two masked figures jumped out.

_'Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed that.'_ Kakashi thought to himself as he brought out a kunai.

"You little brat! How'd you find out?" One of the ambushers, a guy wearing a sort of breathing mask, asked as he brought out his hand sporting a clawed glove, which was chained to the clawed glove of his mask-wearing counterpart.

"Next time you should transform into something more convincing than a puddle of water when it hasn't rained here in over a month." Naruto said as he put away his kunai and unsheathed his zanpakuto.

"So the kiddy has a sword. Let's see if you can actually use that thing." The other assailant said as he and his partner charged at Naruto with their claws ready to strike.

"Sasuke, Sakura, protect the bridge builder." Kakashi said, moving to give Naruto a hand.

Sasuke was a little reluctant to do that but had decided, wisely, not to get on Kakashi's bad side while Sakura, on the other hand, had no problem staying out of the fight. Naruto blocked one of the attackers with his special weapon, while the other one tried to attack from behind, only to be cut off by Kakashi. Naruto spun around and kicked the assailant with a jump over Kakashi's head. When the victim was sent flying Kakashi cut the chain connecting him to his partner. The chain would have limited the enemy's mobility, but surely breaking it would hurt their coordination.

Naruto then returned to the one he had previously blocked, who used the severed chain and wrapped it around the blonde's ankle. Undaunted, Naruto kicked the man in the throat with his free foot and pressed him into the ground, knocking him out cold. With that one assailant unconscious Naruto turned his attention to the other one, only to find that Kakashi had already tied him up to a tree.

"You know I could have taken them both." Naruto said, a little disappointed that Kakashi had stepped in during the battle.

"I know, but where's the fun in letting my students do all the fighting?" The silver-haired jounin rhetorically asked, giving his pupil an eye smile.

"Anyways, why don't we find out who this guy is." Naruto said, looking at the bound masked man.

"These two are the Demon Brothers of Kiri, best known for using poisons and ambush attacks. The one you took out is Meizu, and the one we have here is Gozu. They were both ninja from Kirigakure but had defected a while back. Now they're just a couple of missing nins." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded in understanding then looked to Gozu, closely. "So tell me for what reason would a couple of missing nins like yourselves have to attack us? Don't say it was random, the fact you disguised yourself, however poorly, shows this was premeditated. You knew we were coming, and you felt we were worth the effect to ambush. So what's the deal?"

"We were assigned to kill the old man so he couldn't finish his bridge." Gozu said, seeing no reason to resist.

Naruto frowned at him upon hearing this revelation. "You say you were assigned. Who assigned you?"

Gozu scoffed. "You're gonna run into him sooner rather than later, you little punk, and when that happens, you and your team are as good as dead." He let out an evil chuckle, but Naruto just smirked.

"We'll see about that." The blonde jinchuuriki calmly said before he knocked Gozu out with a hit to the head.

"Tell us what this mission really is about sir." Kakashi demanded of Tazuna, giving him a firm look. The genin gave dirty looks instead. "The Hokage specifically said you were unlikely to attract any kind of trouble beyond the kinds of threats that any common traveler would chance upon. But here we have claims that you're being specifically targeted by someone willing to send out assassins. So tell us everything, or next time we'll let the assassins get you."

Not willing to test if the jounin was bluffing or not, Tazuna let out a sigh. "I guess there's no reason to keep hiding it from you anymore. A powerful businessman and criminal boss by the name of Gato has been oppressing both my village and country. Gato runs a shipping magnate which he also uses as a front for smuggling various kinds of contraband and has taken over the shipping lanes into my country, which is our only way of getting supplies in and out of our country."

"He took over all of them?" Naruto asked, finding this suspicious.

The old bridge builder nodded. "Yes. But if I can complete my bridge it will open a different way of trading with different countries, and get us free from Gato's grip on our country since he can't take that over without drawing too much suspicion from the other nations. Gato knows this and he has been trying to keep me away from the Land of Waves by any means necessary. That's why I ended up in your village to begin with."

"I had to admit I wondered how you got to our village without an escort already planned to get home." Sakura thought out loud.

"I could only get enough money to pay for a C-ranking mission, which is why I said that bandits and thieves were the only ones that might come after me." Tazuna continued. "I know I tricked you but you have to understand that my village, and my country by extension, won't survive while Gato remains in power. I'm not asking you to stay with me. You can leave and end the mission right now if you wish. I know I'd be willing in your position."

Kakashi, unsure of what to say, looked at him, then at his genin team. "What to do you guys think we should do?"

All three genin gave it some thought, and Naruto was the first one to answer. "I had a feeling something was amiss this whole time, but I ignored it because I thought I might have been overanxious. Well, I wanted action, and now I've got it. It also sounds like this guy and his country are in a real bind and I can't just stand around and let innocent people suffer. I'm in!" Naruto said, getting a nod from Kakashi.

"Sure, it'll help me prove that I am an elite." Sasuke said, getting an approving nod from Sakura.

_'Oh brother.'_ Naruto thought to himself, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"I guess it's settled then. We will protect you until the bridge is completed, Tazuna, since that seems to be the only true way to ensure you're protected from the man after you." Kakashi said, earning a smile from Tazuna.

"Thank you so much." Tazuna said as he kept walking with Team 7 to the Land of Waves.

[Zabuza's Hideout]

"The Demon Brothers failed you, Zabuza Momochi. I am paying you top dollar for your services and this is what I get in return?" Gato said before he was cut short by Zabuza, who pointed his Executioner's Blade at his employer's neck.

"Calm yourself, Gato. I sent those two as a test of the ninja the target would acquire. Since they failed, I have a better idea of what to expect when I deal with this matter…personally." Zabuza said, smiling underneath his bandages.

Next Time - Demon of the Mist? Not so Much


	6. 6 Demon of the Mist? Not So Much

**Chapter 6 - Demon of the Mist? Not so Much**

Disclaimer: Still applies. Especially now that the manga's over. NaruHina forever!

[Somewhere in the Land of Waves]

After a lot of trekking and a ride on a simple boat, Team 7 had reached the home country of their client, and were making their way closer to Tazuna's home village, staying on their guard for anyone that might come for them the whole time. Gozu had specifically mentioned that whoever he worked for would not let this one failure stop their attempt to kill the bridge builder, so at any time a second strike could be made.

Kakashi was keeping cool throughout the trip, though he stayed on his toes, figuratively, the whole time as well. Sakura was hoping that she wasn't going to have to fight anyone, considering her skills weren't up to par with either Sasuke or her sensei; she refused to acknowledge Naruto as stronger then her though. Though he could care less about her acknowledgment. Sasuke didn't care if he might be forced to fight since he was an 'elite' and, as such, he would be victorious against any opponent. Naruto, meanwhile, was actually hoping that he would get to fight a strong opponent. This was part of the reason why he became stronger in Las Noches; other than protecting those precious to him Naruto wanted to get stronger by fighting the strongest.

'Heh, maybe a bit of Nnoitra-sensei had rubbed off on me, bet Harribel-sensei wouldn't like that. But still, I'm pretty frustrated by the lack of action in those chores everyone has the nerve to call 'missions'. I've been very patience with this, but I'm dying to fight someone I can actually let loose on.'

All of a sudden there was a soft noise in a cluster of nearby bushes, taking Naruto out of his thoughts. With the desire for action at the front of his mind, he then leaped at the bush while unsheathing his zanpakuto, pointing the tip at the source of the disturbance.

To his surprise it turned out to be nothing more than a white rabbit, which trembled as Naruto held his zanpakuto at it.

"Whoops." The young blonde sheepishly said to himself, putting his blade back into its sheath then picking up the little rabbit, petting it to comfort it.

"What is it Naruto?" Kakashi asked, unable to see through the foliage.

Naruto calmly emerged from the bushes with the rabbit in hand. "False alarm everyone. It was just this little guy here."

"Getting spooked by a little rabbit, loser?" Sasuke asked mockingly, but the smirk that he had vanished when he saw that Naruto was giving him an angry scowl.

"Not as spooked as you'll be if I dropped you in Hueco Mundo for five minutes. Let's see you deal with the rabbits there." Naruto declared.

To be accurate, Hueco Mundo didn't really have rabbits. But there was this one time Naruto was training and allowed to use feral Hollows as targets, and this one Hollow appeared that was rather weird. It was the size of a person covering in black fur, and with a mask that greatly resembled a rabbit face but it also looked like it had melted a little bit. It might have been harmless to normal people, but he killed it easily, although he never forgot that image. In time he came to jokingly refer to it as Frank.

"What's Hueco Mundo?" Sakura asking, not recognizing the name.

"Naruto, don't you think there's something weird about this rabbit?" Kakashi asked, cutting the boy off from answering the pinkette.

With a raised eyebrow Naruto looked back down at the rabbit, and soon understood what Kakashi was talking about. "This rabbit's coat is white. It's mid-summer so it should be brown or grey. Someone's been keeping this rabbit indoors like a pet, and we're not near anyone's house."

Before Kakashi could say another word, a huge sword appeared from out of nowhere, flying towards the group like a shuriken. Everyone ducked except for Naruto who, using his quick reflexes, managed to draw out his zanpakuto. He spun underneath the spinning blade and thrust his own into a hole in the sword as it passed above him, causing the blade to spin around his zanpakuto until it settled down towards the guard. Naruto pulled his zanpakuto out of the hole of the huge blade; upon closer inspection it was a very large sword shaped much like an oversized butcher's knife.

"Not bad, kid. I didn't expect someone to maneuver that fast." A husky grim voice said from the shadows.

Everyone looked up in the trees, and saw a bare-chested man about Kakashi's age wearing dull blue pants, a black strap on his torso, white wrap around his mouth, white and brown cloth covers on his forearms and calves, and a hitai-ate with the metal plate on the side of his head making it hard to see the symbol.

"This is quite a large blade you have here. Are you compensating for something?" Naruto asked.

The newcomer narrowed his eyebrowless eyes at him. "You better watch your mouth kid, or I'll show you how to really wield a blade."

Rather than look scared as expected, the young Konoha genin simply grinned. "Now that is something I'd like to see." He then tossed the large sword back to its rightful owner, who caught it but looked like he couldn't believe he had just be given it back.

"Naruto are you crazy?!" Kakashi all but screamed in shock. "This is Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist! He has been called The Demon of the Mist due to his brutality and bloodlust! Giving him his sword back would be like... I don't even have an analogy for this!"

Naruto just continued to grin. "Don't worry about me, Sensei. This guy lost this fight the moment I became his opponent." With that he unsheathed his zanpakuto and entered into his fighting stance.

"Don't push your luck with me, kid. However good you think you are with that toothpick, I'm the one who has real experience in kenjutsu." Zabuza said as he took his stance as well.

"Then how about you show me instead of talking me to death?" Naruto said as he jumped towards Zabuza.

"Gladly." Zabuza replied, jumping towards Naruto too.

Naruto brought up his blade and met Zabuza's sword head-on. The two clashed in the air with sword meeting sword. Naruto then proceeded to push back the Kubikiribocho before he made a vertical swing. Zabuza parried the strike before he spun around and swung horizontally at Naruto, who simply ducked and landed a kick to Zabuza's chest, which sent him flying. Zabuza managed to rebound off a tree and recompose himself, but not before Naruto was already closing the gap between them. Zabuza was barely able to bring up his sword in time to block Naruto's attack.

"I have to admit, I was expecting more from one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist." Naruto said in a rather insulting tone, putting Zabuza down even more with the fact that he was only fighting with one hand on the blade while the other hand was still in his pocket.

"Don't get overconfident so quickly." Zabuza said as he kept both hands on his sword.

Naruto raised an eyebrow before he saw someone running past them both heading right for Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna. It was Zabuza.

'If he's there, then I'm fighting a clone. Or that's the clone and this is the real one. Better see how this one takes a hit.'

Naruto immediately used his free hand to strike around the sword and, in one swift and fluid motion, punched Zabuza's head in with enough force to make his face become concave. Shortly after impact, Zabuza melted into a puddle of water.

'Water clone, so that other one was the real one.' Naruto told himself.

Meanwhile, the real Zabuza brought up his sword to try to slash through Kakashi, who had uncovered his Sharingan, to get to Tazuna. But as he was about to bring down his sword, Naruto grabbed Zabuza by his strap from behind.

"You should have made sure I was taken care of before you focused on someone else, baka!" Naruto said, flinging the swordsman back to the spot where he had been fighting Zabuza's clone.

"Very well, I was getting sick of you anyway." Zabuza said as he began forming multiple hand signs.

'_He's got something big up his sleeve. Luckily I got something up my sleeve for him too.'_ Naruto thought as he placed both hands on his zanpakuto.

"Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!" Zabuza yelled as a huge wall of water surgedfrom a nearby lake to gather around him then barrel towards Naruto like a flash flood.

"Move, Naruto!" Kakashi yelled as he got the others out of the way. Naruto just stood there however, as some powerful energy was building up in Naruto's blade, which took the form of a orange-colored wave resembling a crescent moon.

"Getsuga Tenshō!" Naruto yelled as he swung his sword and sent the massive wave of reiatsu flying.

The attack cut right through the wall of water as if it wasn't even there. Tazuna and the rest of Team 7 just looked on in shock as the attack then pushed right through Zabuza and sent him flying. He eventually smacked right into a tree back first. Zabuza then looked up and saw Naruto walking slowly towards him. Zabuza stood up, but was immediately pinned the tree by three kunai's, before he could do anything else. Kakashi then appeared on a tree branch above him.

"Nicely done, Naruto." Kakashi said, flashing his usual eye smile.

"Thanks. That's the same attack I used for my jutsu test back at the Academy." Naruto admitted; when he did the attack at the Academy it was, intentionally, much weaker than the one he just used right now and even then he was still using only a tiny fraction of the full power of that attack. If he had used it at full power Zabuza would be in pieces now.

"Impressive. Anyways, I think it's time to finish him." Kakashi said as he pulled out a kunai.

"Agreed." Naruto said, flexing his grip on his zanpakuto.

"I am not gonna be put down by some little punk! You can ki-" Zabuza started, only to be cut off by three small needle-like projectiles hitting him in the side of the neck.

"What the-?" Naruto asked before a masked Kirigakure hunter-nin appeared next to the collapsed Zabuza.

"Thank you. If it had not been for your intervention and strength I don't think I would have taken Zabuza down." The hunter ninja said as he looked down at Zabuza. "Yes, he's dead."

"No prob, always happy to help someone with a problem." Naruto said, sheathing his zanpakuto now that the fight was over. At the same time Kakashi covered his sharingan, and thanks to having barely used it he only felt a little winded in terms of chakra loss. Like he had done a normal work-out.

"Now then I will take him away and dispose of his remains." The hunter ninja said while picking Zabuza up off the ground, hefting a little from the limp weight.

"Don't you think you should take care of that now? I mean that is how you guys do things in your department, right?" Naruto asked, getting a little suspicious.

"You're quite clever. The problem with that is that we hunter-nins also dispose of the body where no one can see us doing so. Best way to ensure you don't learn anything via observation rather than examination. We'll definitely meet again, though." The hunter ninja said before taking off with Zabuza.

"That was an accomplice of Zabuza's. This fight isn't over yet. Why else would they say we'll meet again for sure?" Naruto said, getting an agreeing nod from Kakashi.

"You're right, but for now let us get Tazuna to his home so that he can do his job and we can do ours," Kakashi said before he walked back to Sakura and the others with Naruto next to him.

"_This mission just keeps getting better and better._" Naruto thought to himself, smiling with sheer excitement.

As they walked Sasuke and Sakura came up beside their teammate; if they weren't walking they would have stood in front of him instead.

"Where did you learn how to fight like that?" Sasuke pressed.

"In Hueco Mundo, my home away from Konoha." The blonde answered.

"And where is this place? I don't remember ever reading about it?" Sakura asked.

"Not all knowledge is gained from books Sakura."

"Where is this place? Why were you taken there? What kind of power were you given that can make you this strong?" Sasuke continued, wanting a direct answer.

"And why did you say in this place even the rabbits were dangerous?" Sakura added.

"Because they are." Naruto answered, still as simply as ever.

"Will you just give us a straight answer?" Sakura yelled.

Naruto cleaned out his ear. "I have been giving you straight answers. You just don't need to know all the details."

"And what makes you think that?" Sasuke demanded, not liking how Naruto was being secretive.

"Because you don't."

At that both the emo avenger and short-tempered pinkette grabbed their blonde teammate and forced him to stop. "Dammit you baka! You went on about how we're teammates and yet you refuse to tell us anything about yourself! Stop keeping secrets from us and tell us what we want to know!" Sakura shouted.

'I could put a stop to this, but I know Naruto is more than capable of doing that as well. Let's see what he does before these two push their luck with him more than they just did.' Kakashi thought as he witnessed this.

Naruto responded first by batting away both hands simultaneously with both arms, and looking at his teammates with a glare that promised pain if they decided to try that again. "Are you two stupid or something? You say I've been keeping secrets? You just haven't bothered trying to get to know me. Ever since this team formed I've tried to get to know you two, and all you ever do is brush me aside. Every time."

That hit a nerve with the other two genin, and they knew he was exactly right. For the first couple of days Naruto had tried to make small talk and asked questions so they could know about each other beyond the simple introductions they originally had. But Sasuke had kept his lips sealed as if conversing was boring and Sakura told him to buzz off, as if somehow him trying to be polite was offending her.

"Are you two allowed to keep things to yourself but I'm not? You're allowed to ignore me but I'm not allowed to ignore you?" Naruto asked, his glare still piercing into them. "I've tried to be a teammate, but you two have not. I've tried to make this unit have some common ground, but you both prefer to widen the gap. I'm not your teammate, to you I'm just someone to put up with, someone who gets assigned the same jobs. So don't go thinking I owe you any explanations. You get what I feel like sharing, and maybe if you ever prove me wrong then I might be willing to give you more. Until then, you get as much from me as I get from you."

With that he walked right past them both and went on ahead of even Kakashi, not trying to get away just keep walking.

The jounin of the group looked to his other two students. "Well don't just stand there. We've got to get Tazuna home."

"Yeah, I don't want to be attacked a third time." Tazuna commented.

The group resumed their march to their destination, with Sasuke and Sakura keeping some distance from the whiskered blonde.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked quietly. She got no response, but she saw Sasuke was listening. "We haven't done anything wrong right? I mean, he's just overreacting, isn't he?"

"If you really believe that, then why do you need to hear me confirm it?" The Uchiha asked back.

Sakura looked ahead at the back of her teammate. 'He's got to be overreacting. I mean, so what if we've been indifferent to him? He just waltzed in one day out of nowhere and started acting like he's better than Sasuke-kun. And he flat-out attacked me in class when I was just defending Sasuke-kun. Why would we want to be friendly to him?'

Yet despite all this attempt at self-reassurance, a nagging thought kept creeping into her mind. 'What if he's not overreacting? What if he's not trying to be rude but is just reacting to our own attitude to him?'

Sasuke at the time was also looking at the situation through a mental filter. 'He's hiding something. He got power and he's trying to keep it to himself. That sword he's so fond of must be part of it. If I can figure out how he uses it, then take it for myself, and any other power he's hiding, then Itachi would be history.'

Sasuke barely smirked to himself, but it was there.

Next Time - Back Up from Las Noches


	7. 7 Back Up From Las Noches

**Chapter 7- Back up from Las Noches**

Disclaimer: You should know it by now.

[Land of Waves]

Naruto and his team had finally made it safely to Tazuna's village, with their client in tow. And, to be blunt about it, the town was in dire straits, practically nothing but slums. There were children on the streets, some too impoverished to even beg, prices on all kinds of goods were sky high, and homes were being foreclosed. Spiderwebs and trash were all over the place as if the scenery needed to emphasize how impoverished it was. All that was missing was a banner saying 'Welcome to Wave Country, we're poor as hell'.

Naruto found his anger rising with each glance at the place. 'All this because of some tycoon, taking money out of poor people's hands just because he says he doesn't already have enough. This Gato guy is going to die a slow and very painful death, I'll make sure of that.'

"Naruto, you're brooding." Kakashi told his student, who was showing more anger than he probably intended.

"Am I supposed to smile?" Naruto asked, silencing the silver-haired jounin.

Eventually the group arrived at Tazuna's home. "Tsunami dear, I'm home!" Tazuna called out when he opened the door.

A dark-haired woman in a pink blouse and blue dress came out from another room. "I'm so glad you're safe Otou-san." She said before hugging her father. Looking over his shoulder she saw the Konoha ninja. "Oh, hello, are you the ones who protected him? Thank you for that."

"No problem. If it's not too much trouble, will you be able to provide a room for us while he complete the mission?" Kakashi asked.

"I believe so, though it's just one room. All four of you will have to share." Tsunami answered.

"That's okay, we had to sleep in close proximity on the way here. Doing it indoors will be no different." The jounin reassured her.

After they had settled into their provided room, Kakashi wanted to have a discussion with his students.

"What's up Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as he sat down with the rest of his squad.

"As you all know, Zabuza is down, but he is certainly not out. I suspect even now that he is gathering up his strength to come and attempt to kill Tazuna again, but it's likely he won't be able to do that tomorrow. While we have the chance to prepare for that, you all will need to get some training done. We'll rest for today, but tomorrow I will teach you some new techniques. I will also send word to Konoha to provide us some back up." Kakashi said, getting up to summon Pakkun in private. However, Naruto spoke up.

"Actually, we don't have to wait for backup. I can get us some help right now if you want."

"Who?" Kakashi asked. As team leader, he was naturally and professionally intrigued by this revelation his student had secret assistant.

"My Fracciones, they're basically my personal followers that are nearly as powerful as I am. I can bring them here though a portal that works as a shortcut to Hueco Mundo."

"You have followers?" Sasuke asked, disbelieving.

"And you don't?" Naruto asked back, eyes shifting to Sakura to prove his point. "Mine at least can do more than compliment me though."

"I can do plenty." Sakura insisted, a little offended.

Naruto shrugged. "You must have done it when I wasn't looking."

"Enough you three. Naruto, have your Fracciones come here tomorrow." Kakashi said, suddenly liking their odds in their upcoming battle with Zabuza.

At evening Tsunami called them all in for dinner and had four plates set out for the shinobi, but when they sat down they noticed something.

"Tsunami-san, who's the extra plate for?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, my son Inari is out by the sea. He'll be back soon." The mother answered.

As they ate, Sasuke eyed Naruto's zanpakuto, lusting for it after seeing the destruction it could do. 'Naruto said that sword would never listen to anyone's will but his own and that it would reject any other wielder, using very violent means to do so. How dumb does he think we are? It's a sword, a slab of sharpened metal, it has no will of its own and therefore can't care who holds it. I will have it in my hands once he's not looking.'

"Sasuke, whatever ideas are going through your head about my sword, I recommend you stop." Naruto spoke up, surprising the Uchiha that his gaze was noticed.

"And why is that?" Sasuke asked, a subtle tone of challenge in his question.

At this point, Inari came into the room and was surprised to see four strangers in his house with his mother and grandfather. "Who are you?" He asked.

"Inari, these people are ninja from Konoha. They protected your grandfather as he came back home and have decided to guard him while he finishes the bridge so we can be free of Gato." Tsunami explained, smiling at her son.

Unlike her initial reaction, Inari frowned. "Feh, they're just more fools coming to meet their deaths. Gato is too powerful to be stopped at this point." He then went up to his room, ignoring dinner entirely.

"What's his problem? You'd think he'd be happy we're helping." Naruto asked.

"Several years ago, a man named Kaiza saved Inari from drowning. After that day he basically became the boy's father. One day not too long ago, Kaiza stood up to Gato, and ended up losing his life because of it by being publicly executed. Since then Inari has been somewhat downtrodden." Tazuna said, the sadness of the memory clearly showing on his face. A similar look was on Tsunami's too.

"That's really sad." Sakura said as she felt sorry for the kid.

Sasuke, on the other hand, paid no mind to this. 'Big deal, I lost a real father. Kid's got nothing to bitch about.'

"He'll change his mind when we're done here." Naruto said as he set down his bowl and got ready for bed.

[Next Morning, Wave Country]

Team 7 went to a secluded place within the forest outside Tazuna's house to begin their training.

"Before we began, Naruto can you contact this back up of yours?" Kakashi asked.

"No problem." The whiskered blonde said, excited to see his Fraccion again while Sasuke and Sakura were expected this to be all hype and no substance. Naruto walked away from the others and waved his hand against the air, looking almost like he was tapping on nothing.

To everyone's surprise, a black line went across the air a meter wide, then got thicker and darker, looking like a mouth with uneven teeth opening until a giant portal was right there in front of everyone and large enough for multiple people to walk through.

Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke were, not surprisingly, a little freaked out by the sight of a portal opening up out of nowhere. "What the heck is this?" Sakura asked.

"Tiraran! Jango! Come on out!" Naruto yelled as he looked into the blackness of the portal, ignoring his teammate's question.

"Naruto-sama!" Tiraran yelled from the portal as she lunged out and tackled Naruto.

"Good to see you too, Tiraran." Naruto said, giving a small smile to her once he got out of the Arrancar life-squeezing embrace.

"She was waiting for the time when you would call for us." Jango said as he walked calmly out of the portal.

"Glad to see you missed me, Jango." Naruto said after he got up off the ground, closing the portal behind him.

"How...? What...? This... This is impossible." Sakura muttered, unable to comprehend this.

"Everyone, these are my Fracciones, Tiraran and Jango." Naruto introduced, and both Fracciones bowed politely to Team 7.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two. I am Kakashi Hatake, leader of Team 7. These are the other members of the squad, Sakura Haruno and-"

"Sasuke Uchiha, last of the Uchiha clan." Sasuke said with a smug look on his face as he proclaimed his title.

"Is that supposed to mean something?" Tiraran asked innocently.

"It means that I represent the most powerful clan of ninja there is. You should be more respectful to your betters." Sasuke said as he tried to make himself appear as a big shot.

Naturally, as both Arrancar were high-level, it didn't work.

"I haven't seen your skills so you will receive no respect from me. If you want to impress me, make me sweat in battle." Jango said in his usual calm tone.

"Is that a challenge?" Sasuke asked as he got in Jango's skull mask face.

"Is this what you've dealing with since you returned, Naruto-sama? I already want to kill this little insect after a minute of being close to him." Jango requested. He earned a smirk from Naruto and Tiraran when they noticed that Sasuke's anger visibly grew.

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled then tried to punch Jango in the face, but was caught just a few inches from his target.

"That is very unwise of you. Let me go ahead and make sure you don't use this hand again." Jango said as he began to unsheathe his zanpakuto out with his free hand.

"Let him go, Jango. Though I hate him just as much as you do, he is still on my team and I need him to be back in Konoha… alive... and with all his limbs intact. His ego on the other hand can be torn to shreds though." Naruto said

Jango took a deep breath. "If you say so, Naruto-sama." He then released Sasuke and sheathed his zanpakuto before standing beside Naruto.

"Why are you two calling him 'sama'? You're both older than him and he's nobody." Sakura complained, a bit unnerved by the Arrancar's aggressive approach to Sasuke.

"Because we like him and respect him." Tiraran answered.

"You respect this baka but not-?" Sakura asked, but was silenced by something that felt like the physical presence of anger pressing down on her. Yet it felt cold, like someone was stepping on her grave.

"We do not have to justify our allegiances to you. Just remember girl, at Naruto-sama's command we would rip out your heart. If you're smart, you won't give him reason to order it." The male Arrancar warned, scaring the pinkette and even the Uchiha.

"Thanks Jango, I think you made your point now." Naruto said, and he released his spiritual pressure.

"What was that? Killing intent?" Sakura asked.

"Sort of, only a lot more effective." Naruto answered, deliberately vague.

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are Fracciones? And why are you wearing a mask made of bone sir?" Kakashi inquired.

"We're Naruto-sama's personal support. His subordinates and body guard." Tiraran answered.

"And I could ask why you're wearing a mask too." Jango added.

"Alright then." Kakashi replied, choosing not to draw more attention to his facial covering. He kind of liked hyping up curiosity over it.

"Now that the introductions have been made, listen very closely you two." Naruto said to his Fracciones. "I called you two here because we are dealing with a powerful foe named Zabuza Momochi. The man also has a mysterious accomplice who is aiding him and whose full abilities and identity are currently unknown. Your job is to protect the bridge builder Tazuna when we cannot. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Both of the Arrancars replied as they bowed to their master.

'They really respect him.' Sakura noted with awe.

"Kakashi-sensei, you should train Sasuke and Sakura. I'd like to spar with my Fracciones, if you don't mind." Naruto said.

"Makes sense." Kakashi said with a nod. "Since you know them and their skills this would be good to ensure the time away hasn't thrown you off. I'll show you what I'm about to teach these two when you're done. Follow me Sasuke and Sakura."

With that the residents of Las Noches left to get some privacy and space from the others, leading them to the other side of the forest.

"Alright you two, time to make sure my skills don't get rusty. With no one in Konoha as good as you I've been feeling a bit... declawed." Naruto said before he got into a fighting stance.

"Oh, we certainly can't have that." Tiraran said in a teasing tone.

"Unless you were Grimmjow." Jango added while popping his neck.

[Hokage office, Konoha]

"Hiruzen." Said an old voice while two old people walked into the room.

The Third Hokage was sitting down with a bento at hand, and sighed. "What is it Homura and Koharu? I'm on my lunch break."

"We'd like to talk about Naruto Uzumaki." Koharu started.

Sarutobi frowned. "If the next words out of your mouths are anything but 'We have no problems with him', your homes will be filled with monkey feces and I'll pay ninja D-rank pay to not clean it up."

"It is not we have a problem with him. We are concerned by the lack of information about him. We understood you knew little when he first reappeared, but by now surely you know something. Please tell us." Homura replied, hoping the monkey summoner wouldn't go that far.

Sarutobi was silent for a moment then looked his old teammates in the eyes. "Let me get this straight, you came in here during my lunch break to tell me you believe I have information you do not, act as if it's your right and duty to have such information, and you expect me to give it to you simply because you ask me to?"

"We are not the only ones asking. The clan heads would like to know. The civilians would to if we were not keeping them ignorant of the boy's return." Koharu commented, referencing the fact that in seven years time the civilians had forgotten how to recognize the jinchuuriki and thus paid him no mind. Though Sarutobi knew it was only a matter of time until they learned, and he knew the reaction would be bad. Not for Naruto, but for them.

"And yet they don't come to me themselves asking for anything on the subject." Sarutobi countered, referring to the clan heads.

"Another thing, wouldn't it be wise to let the general public know about the boy?" Homura offered. "The boy is potentially dangerous with so much unknown about him."

"And how will them knowing make the situation less dangerous?" Sarutobi tested.

"They would be able to prepare against him sooner if he got out of control."

Sarutobi frowned and looked ready to hit something. "You mean you want to go back to the village blatantly disrespecting the Fourth's wishes for the boy all because you're afraid of him." It was no question.

"We do not wish the boy to become arrogant. Look at Sasuke Uchiha, he's gotten an ego over the years but we know what he can do should he ever pose a threat. With Naruto Uzumaki, there's just a blank. We do not know his opinion of the Leaf, himself, or what he can do should he decide we're expendable." Koharu admitted.

"The boy was gone for years and willingly came back. That should tell you his opinion of the Leaf. The fact he volunteered to be on a genin team should tell you he is not egotistical and wants to make friends. As for potentially betraying Konoha, why would wanting people to hate him in public make him love Konoha more?" Sarutobi asked.

The two former teammates of the hokage took this in. "What if his parentage was revealed too?"

"So now you believe it's a good idea?" Sarutobi asked, remembering their insistence that it be hidden when he was just born. "What about your claims of 'it will make Iwa and Kumo come after him and attack us'?"

"It's been twelve years, we've had time to rebuild our forces and defenses so we're not as vulnerable as we were after the attack. Besides, are you saying you don't intend to reveal his heritage at any time?" Koharu asked back.

'Damn, this time she turned the upper hand around.' Sarutobi mentally groaned. 'If I deny their claims, I'm basically saying I'm trying to hurt Naruto.' He sighed after a moment. "Why don't we save this for when he returns? Shouldn't the boy hear about his heritage before complete strangers do? Or decide if he wants them to know? As it is at heart his secret to keep or tell."

The elders nodded. "That sounds more than fair. Well then, go back to your lunch Hiruzen. Sorry to have disrupted you." They said before leaving.

[Zabuza's Hideout]

Zabuza was lying on his bed, bandaged up from his fight with Naruto, replaying the fight over and over in his head.

'The attack the kid used to counter my jutsu was incredible, it practically tore through it and even managed to injure me.' He thought with a bit of a mental cringe. 'I've never seen kenjutsu like that, but I suspect from the force of the swing he wasn't using the full power of that attack, just enough to counter my attack and then some. As impressive he may be, he still needs to be taken out since he is in my way.'

"I'm back Zabuza-sama." Haku called out as she entered the room, wearing her hunter nin mask. "I managed to find some medicine that will help you heal more easily." She took out a container of medicine and gave him a pill.

"This medicine better get me on my feet quick Haku. We need to make sure we take of the bridge builder so we can get paid." Zabuza said before he swallowed the pill and took a sip of water.

"We will. For now though, you need to rest and gather your strength. I'll do what I can to make the recovery go well and get information on the competition." Haku said before she left the room to let her master rest.

"A rematch with the kid will be enough for me. Haku will hopefully even the odds." Zabuza thought out loud to himself as he went back to sleep, readying himself for tomorrow.

Next Time - The Battle on the Bridge


	8. 8 The Battle on the Bridge

**Chapter 8 - The Battle on the Bridge**

Disclaimer: (brown phantom) Do I really have to say it? Does anyone anymore?

(Rocker1600) Yes, you do... if you don't, I'll send my army of flying zombie monkeys after you. And they all suffer from constant diarrhea.

(brown phantom) ...Damn you! Alright, I don't own Naruto or Bleach, and never will. But I do currently own this fanfic.

[Tazuna's house, Land of Waves]

Team 7 had been at Tazuna's house for several days, getting in training and scoping out the area for ideas on what they could use to their advantage. Kakashi was completely certain that when Zabuza returned the two places he was most likely to do so were Tazuna's house or at the bridge itself, the only two places he can guarantee the old man would be at on any given day. And the odds were the bridge would be the location selected for the surrounding water would best work to the rogue Kiri-nin's advantage.

Unfortunately trying to counter that with something that the Konoha-nin could use to their advantage was proving difficult. They had mentioned hiding extra weapons or tools there ahead of time to surprise Zabuza with, but considering they didn't know who was working for Zabuza or by similar virtue who was willing to sell Tazuna out to Gato by this point, any prep work on the bridge was likely to lose the element of surprise. In the end, it was decided that the majority of the fighting would be handled by Kakashi, Naruto, and the two Fracciones while Sasuke and Sakura focused their attention to anyone or anything Zabuza might use to sneak past them.

After a week of practice and attempts to get the genin better coordinated, which was a battle in and of itself, all they could do was hope luck was on their side. As Kakashi put it, luck won as many battles as skill did.

On the morning of their seventh day in Wave, Naruto woke up and stretched. 'I hope this fight goes well and is more exciting than last time; it's been pretty bring for the past few days. I mean, the most interesting thing to happen so far was seeing that girl looking for herbs for her 'father'. I don't know who she was trying to kid but she definitely works for Zabuza, her reishi was far too much to be an ordinary girl. And I don't care what she said, that reishi was too feminine for them to be a boy.'

As he propped himself up, the first thing he saw was his still sleeping Fracciones, since the three of them didn't sleep in the same room as the rest of Team 7. Jango was sitting Indian style with his arms crossed and his back against the wall while he slept; Tiraran meanwhile was leaning against Jango's shoulder in a rather content style.

Naruto smiled at his Fracciones apparent closeness.

'Glad to see they're still the same. The two of them have always been very close even before they became Arrancar. They're probably the closest thing to siblings anyone in Hueco Mundo had ever seen; heck they probably _are_ siblings for all anyone knows. Starkk-sama and Lilynette would come close but, given the reason for their bond, it doesn't count.'

Naruto silently crept by the Arrancars and tip-toed his way out of the room so as to not to awake them. They had also been left exhausted from the many training sessions with Naruto over the week but they didn't complain. It was fun for them too.

Naruto made his way downstairs and found Tsunami washing dishes in the kitchen. Tazuna's daughter heard Naruto coming down the stairs and smiled at him when he appeared at the entrance.

"Well there's the sleeping warrior. I was wondering when you were gonna wake up." Tsunami said as she set down the dish before she grabbed another dirty one to rinse.

"Good morning Tsunami-san. Where's my team and sensei?" Naruto asked as Tsunami set a plate of breakfast out on the table for him.

"They left with my father to guard him while he works on the bridge. Your sensei thought it best for you and your friends to rest up." Tsunami said as Naruto ate his breakfast.

Around the time Naruto was finishing was when Inari walked in, his eyes still full of anguish and anger. He had held that look all week but he never lashed out. He came close one time, but being around Jango and Tiraran scared him so he kept his mouth shut. He glanced at Naruto and was about to walk away with his mouth still shut when Naruto spoke to him.

"Don't you ever get tired of being angry, boy?"

Inari didn't respond, but he turned around, giving an expression that seemed halfway between bothered and caught off-guard.

"For as long as we've been here your aura has been flooded with anger, restrained but not repressed. So much anger in you, and some of it at yourself too. Thanks to your grandfather sharing some details I can understand why, but if you think doing this will help you in some way then trust me it won't. Anger and resentment just mask a hollow feeling that will eventually be literal."

Inari was naturally confused by this since Naruto was referencing the creation of Hollows. Most Hollows came from the resentful souls of the dead who simply could not get over an injustice of some sort they experienced in their life, and it didn't matter at all if the resentment was justified or not. Being able to justify your bitterness never saved a soul from turning into a Hollow.

Inari glared. "You're saying I'm not supposed to be angry at Gato for what he did to us?!"

"I'm saying you shouldn't be intentionally keeping yourself in a bad mood. Your father was a good man who was willing to die in order to stand up for what he believed in. You should be following in his footsteps and making his sacrifice mean something instead of sulking about how much you miss him."

"Sacrifice? What sacrifice? My father was killed by a man who made him helpless and he wasn't able to do anything about it! No one in this lousy town was or even tried! You want me to follow in his footsteps? Look where they led him to! I will not make a stupid mistake like that!"

Hearing this, Naruto simply shook his head. He realized that the boy was going to need a rude wake-up call, so to speak, if his message to him was to reach him. "You're afraid of dying. I get that, that's a completely natural feeling and you shouldn't feel bad for wanting to stay alive as long as you can. But let me ask you something Inari. Do you think that Gato will just go away if you just give up like this? Do you think that feeling sorry for yourself and crying like a little baby will make him and his thugs leave?"

The younger boy gave no answer, but he still looked upset. Tsunami meanwhile paid close attention to this conversation while still washing the dishes, doing a good job of looking like she was just minding her own business.

"Then if you want things to improve, do something about it. Gato's not going to leave until there's nothing left to take, and even then when he does leave he's going to put someone on his payroll here in his place to take anything new that comes up in his absence. Your father may not have succeeded, but he had the right idea of what needs to be done." Naruto said with a very intense look in his eye and a calm and serious tone in his voice.

Inari looked at him, looking more like he wanted to cry then argue. "What do you know? You never lost your father."

"That's where you're wrong. I lost my father... before I could even know him," Naruto said. "In fact, both of my parents died the day I was born. I never knew them, while you at least can remember your father and still have your mother. And yet you're acting like you've lost everything. You've given up before you've even started."

Inari was wide-eyed at this. Tsunami kept up her act, but she was just as surprised to hear this.

"Understand this, Inari. Gato is indeed a dangerous man, but only because people like you let him walk all over you. He'll only go away when you and the others are willing to stand up to him and refuse to let him push you around. Just as your father did, and just as your grandfather is trying to do, you need to stand up for yourself; if Gato pushes you down, you have to get up and push back. You may be knocked down again, you may even be killed, but one thing is clear... you have to try, otherwise your dad will have died for nothing. Think about that before you go skulking around." Naruto added.

The blonde genin then got up and went back upstairs after finishing his little lecture, leaving Inari to reflect on what he just said. When Naruto got to the guest room he opened the door quietly so as to not startle his Fracciones. However, he made a mistake when he shut the door too quickly, causing the two Arrancars to wake up from their slumber. Jango woke first, with Tiraran doing the same a second later and they looked right at each other before both jumped back in embarrassment much to Naruto's amusement. Tiraran blushed heavily while Jango stood up straight and coughed a few times.

"Good morning Naruto-sama." Jango said while he tried to regain his composure.

"Good morning to you both." Naruto said, having decided to not embarrass his Fracciones any more than he had.

"What is the mission today, Naruto-sama?" Tiraran asked as she smiled promptly at her master.

"I guess we have to go to the bridge now and protect the bridge builder. Until he ha-" Naruto said before he was interrupted by the sound of a crash of some sort coming from downstairs.

Naruto held up his hand to keep his Fracciones still before whispering to them to wait for his order. Naruto then tip-toed downstairs to see what was happening. He found Tsunami being held hostage by two bandits while Inari was standing across from them.

"Why are you here?" Inari asked as one of the thugs, one of his eyes covered by an eye patch, held his mother hostage while the other thug, who had white hair, stood in Inari's way.

"Our boss wants us to kidnap you and your mommy so we have a bargaining chip in case that Zabuza guy fails to take out the bridge builder," The eyepatch thug said, then flashed a psychotic grin.

Inari was terrified, he knew he had no chance of winning and, in any other situation, would've considered surrendering. But something happened. Maybe it was Naruto's words which were still fresh in his mind, maybe it the fact that surrendering would've meant that he basically gave up his mother to Gato made him too angry for his fear to take hold, or maybe it was just a rash decision that was made on instinct in the sudden heat of the moment... but, whatever was the case, Inari did something he never imagined himself doing. He held his ground.

"No! I won't let you take her!" Inari said as he charged at the man, only to be swatted away by the other thug.

"Play the hero and expect to get killed, kid." The white-haired thug said as he brought up his sword, ready to kill Inari.

Inari closed his eyes and waited for the coming blow to end him before he suddenly heard the sound of a painful grunt and the collapse of a body to the floor. Inari opened his eyes and saw Naruto standing in front of him, his sword unsheathed, and the white-haired thug on the floor dead, a stab wound located right where the thug's heart used to be.

"So you finally decided to stand up and fight, huh?" Naruto asked as he flashed a reassuring smiled at Inari who, not surprisingly, was shocked at seeing the scene before him.

"You little gaki!" The eyepatch thug yelled before he tossed Tsunami to the floor and charged at Naruto.

Before he could even three steps towards Naruto, however, he stopped dead in his tracks with a pained expression on his face. Before anyone other than Naruto could react a black-colored blade suddenly pierced through the low-life's chest; once the sword was retracted from the thug's chest he collapsed to the ground, dead with a diagonal slash across his back to go with the stab wound. Jango and Tiraran, who were obviously the ones who took him down, stood behind the thug's corpse as they sheathed their zanpakutos.

"No other threat is in the vicinity of the house." Jango said in his calm and calculating manner.

Naruto went to check on Tsunami, only responding to Jango's statement once he confirmed that she was unharmed.

"Very well then. Jango, you and Tiraran are to stay here and keep it that way just in case you're mistaken."

"But Naruto-sama, the plan was for us to be at the bridge." Tiraran objected.

"We didn't consider the possibility that Gato would send people for both locations at the same time. That changes things. I'll go ahead to the bridge as a scout since my arrival won't alert the enemy too much too soon. I'll send a signal to you if you're needed and, if that happens, Jango will your sonido and rush to the bridge right away while Tiraran stays here to guard the house. Do I make myself clear?" Naruto said, to which both Arrancar nodded in response.

"Please be careful out there, Naruto." Inari said as he stood next to his mother.

"You don't need to worry, Inari. You'll see me again." Naruto said before giving him a thumbs up.

The shinobi then proceeded to the bridge's construction site. As Naruto flash-stepped towards the bridge he felt something he hadn't felt since he left Las Noches, excitement. Naruto felt the adrenaline pumping through him, and he loved it.

'I can't wait to get in on this fight! I finally have a chance to display some of my skills in a true fight. Even my zanpakuto is itching for a fight! Time to put my training to use!' He told himself while shunpo-ing towards the battle.

[Construction Site for the Bridge, Land of Waves]

Things were not boding well for the rest of Team 7. Kakashi was battling Zabuza head on in zero visibility as he had been caught in the Swordsmen's Hidden Mist Jutsu. Sasuke was trying to fight Haku but was caught in her Crystal Ice Mirror Jutsu. All the while Sakura was stuck giving what protection she could to Tazuna while the others fought though, but to be perfectly blunt Tazuna would die if either Kakashi or Sasuke fell in battle unless Naruto arrives soon, since Sakura was nowhere near as capable in battle as her three teammates.

Zabuza swung down at Kakashi only to be blocked by a kunai in his hand. "Where's the blonde kid, Kakashi? He's the one I really wanna fight right now." Zabuza said as he added pressure to his sword in an attempt to overpower Kakashi.

"He'll be here soon enough, Zabuza. Until then, however, you'll just have to settle for me. Sorry to disappoint." Kakashi said as he broke out of the power struggle and went on the attack.

Sasuke, meanwhile, now looked like a human pincushion with all the ice needles that now stuck out of him courtesy of Haku. Even now the Uchiha struggled to his feet in his current state though his arrogance was still as strong as it had been for the past five years.

"Why don't you just stay down? You will only get knocked down again and if you keep struggling I'll have no choice but to kill you." Haku said, as she was getting frustrated by her opponent's persistence.

"Shut up! I'll never lose to the likes of you!" Sasuke said to which Haku sighed.

"If that's how you feel then I guess reasoning with you would be pointless." Haku said as she created even more needles.

Haku threw a handful of these needles at the Uchha which would've put the prodigy into a death trance had something not blocked the needles before they could hit Sasuke. Haku gasped at the sight of Naruto standing in the way of the needles, which were now on the ground in front of him; he had apparently blocked them with his own body without getting a scratch on him. The Uzumaki sighed, as if he had been reluctant to save his teammate.

"As much as I didn't want to save him, people back home would have my head if I let their precious Uchiha die. But at least I finally get to see what you're made of." Naruto said as a smile crossed his face.

"You hurt Zabuza-sama. You will pay for that." Haku said before she threw another barrage of needles right at Naruto.

The needles collided with Naruto only to dropped on the ground. Each needle simply made a 'ding' sound when it hit Naruto's body. Not only were the senbons unable to break his skin, the weapons weren't even capable of tearing his outfit, which still looked spotless. Haku stopped her attack and looked at him with shock, though her mask hid her face.

"How are you doing that?" Haku asked as she had, not surprisingly, never see someone so durable in battle.

Naruto, before he replied, found himself going into a flashback of his training at Las Noches...

_Flashback_

[Unspecified Training Room, Las Noches, Hueco Mundo]

A seven year old Naruto stood ten yards from Nnoitra who had his usual grin sprouting on his face. Each drew their weapons and got prepared for battle with such precision that it appeared as if they were performing a choreographed dance.

"You ready, kid?" Nnoitra asked as he placed his scythe blade on his shoulders.

"Yes." Naruto said with a serious tone.

"Then you can have the first shot." Nnoitra said before he made a hand motion for Naruto to come at him.

Naruto charged at Gilga and was soon above his head. He then proceeded to bring his blade down with extreme force. It cut across Nnoitra, but only created sparks as it came down, not being able to cut through the Espada. Naruto landed on his feet and jumped back away from Nnoitra. Nnoitra checked for a scar but found nothing. He then brought up his scythe and swung down at Naruto. Naruto took the hit and sparks flew, until Nnoitra's attack reached the boy's abdomen and a small cut. Naruto gasped and clutched his side as Nnoitra rested his scythe on his shoulder once again and shook his head.

"You have to get much stronger than that if you going to have a tough Hierro like mine." Nnoitra said as he stood over a kneeling Naruto.

"Yes Nnoitra-sama." Naruto said as he bowed his head before the Espada.

_End Flashback_

"My teachers made sure I would be able to withstand any attack thrown my way. Now that I've answered your question, let us talk in the open. I'm getting a headache just staring at all these mirrors." Naruto said before he seemingly vanished into thin air.

Haku tried to locate him but was soon preoccupied when she saw that her mirrors suddenly shattered. Haku attempted to fix the broken mirrors but it took too long for her to realize what was going on and, more importantly, that she was too slow to stop Naruto, who refused to let up his Shunpo, from destroying mirror after mirror. Haku barely managed to escape the last mirror before it was destroyed as well, landing on her feet prepared for a fight but, to her horror, she was caught by her throat by Naruto. He lifted her off her feet and stared her in the eyes.

"Damn it Naruto, you should have just left her to me." Sasuke said as he got to his feet.

"Not now, Sasuke." Naruto said while he was still clutching Haku by the throat.

"I'm ordering you to let me fin-" Sasuke said before Naruto sent the Uchiha flying with a backhand strike.

"Such an annoyance." Naruto said before he turned his attention back on Haku.

"What are you going to do to me?" Haku asked as she was, understandably, terrified of what a powerful opponent like Naruto would do to her. What he actually did surprised her, however.

"Nothing." Naruto replied before he released his grip on Haku; the Konoha shinobi turned his attention to the fight between Zabuza and Kakashi.

"Why? You had me right for the kill so why did spare me?" Haku asked. She was, naturally, curious as to why he would just let her live despite what she had done to his teammate.

"Because when you attacked me, I followed the spots you aimed for and I took a moment before that to see where you had struck my teammate. You didn't aim for anything vital in the human body. You weren't trying to kill me or Sasuke." Naruto said as he saw Haku look away in apparent shame.

"Killing isn't really my style." Haku said as if she was a little disappointed with her 'weakness'.

"The way I see it, you didn't try to kill me so I have no reason to kill you. Now if you don't mind it would appear that my sensei is in need of my help." Naruto said as he disappeared yet again, leaving Haku to her thoughts.

Zabuza and Kakashi, meanwhile, were still locked in a intense battle. Zabuza brought up his sword to attack Kakashi yet again only to be blocked by Naruto's zanpakuto. Naruto smirked at the swordsman who, not to anyone's surprise at this point, was smirking underneath his bandages.

"You ready to finish what we started, kid?" Zabuza asked as he crossed swords with Naruto.

"What do you think? Let's finish this." Naruto said as he allowed his adrenaline to take over for this showdown.

Next Time – The Mist Settles


End file.
